Marvel's Sean Gunn Says Gilmore Girls Residuals Were Almost Nothing, Blasts Netlflix CEOs

By Jamie Jirak

These days, Sean Gunn is known best for playing Kraglin in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but many fans knew him first as Kirk from Gilmore Girls. Gunn appeared in all seven seasons of the series before returning for three episodes in the Netflix sequel show, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life. Now, all of the Gilmore Girls seasons remain on Netflix, but actors from the show aren't getting residuals. Yesterday, it was announced that the actor's guild SAG-AFTRA was officially going on strike, and a big part of the strike involves getting residuals from streamers. Gunn was interviewed on the picket line today, and he revealed he's there to specifically protest Netflix. 

"I also particularly wanted to come out and protest Netflix," Gunn told The Hollywood Reporter. "I was on a television show called Gilmore Girls for a long time that has brought in massive profits for Netflix. It has been one of their most popular shows for a very long time, over a decade. It gets streamed over and over and over again, and I see almost none of the revenue that comes into that."

Gunn continued, "The CEOs of Netflix, Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos, give each other bonuses in the 10s of millions dollars. Ted Sarandos made $40 million with the bonuses that they made with their corporate profits. I don't understand why they can't lessen those bonuses to share the wealth more with the people who have created the content that has gotten them rich. It really is a travesty. And if the answer is, 'Well, this is just how business is done, this is just how corporate business works,' that sucks. That makes you a bad person. And you really need to rethink how you do business and share the wealth with people, otherwise this is all going to come crashing down. I'm happy to be out here and we need a fair deal."

Why Is SAG-AFTRA Striking?

In a statement tied to the strike announcement, SAG-AFTRA representatives revealed that the strike is commencing after four weeks of negotiations with the AMPTP, and an existing negotiation extension from June 30th to July 12th. Back in May, SAG-AFTRA's national board unanimously agreed to send an authorization vote to members, with and 97.91 percent of members ultimately voting in favor of authorization.

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"Yesterday our union celebrated the 90th anniversary of the incorporation of Screen Actors Guild," Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator, said during a press conference. "During our nearly century-long existence we've fought for and achieved countless gains for working actors. Today, we embark on a new important chapter in our unions history. Earlier this morning, the SAG-AFTRA national board convened following four weeks of negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television producers in a meeting, because AMPTP remains unwilling to offer a fair deal on key issues essential to protecting the livelihoods of working actors and performers. SAG AFTRA as national board unanimously voted to issue a strike order against the studios and streamers."

Stay tuned for more updates about the SAG strike. 

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