Marvel Star Sean Gunn Clarifies Netflix Comments After SAG Strike Interview Gets Taken Down
This week, 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 for projects that end up on streamers. Many actors were seen on the picket lines yesterday, including Marvel star Sean Gunn. Before he was Kraglin in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Gunn was known for playing Kirk in Gilmore Girls. Gunn was interviewed by The Hollywood Reporter on the picket line, and he revealed he was there specifically to protest Netflix. "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." Today, Gunn took to social media to reveal THR took down the interview.
"A tweet featuring a video interview with Sean Gunn discussing his residuals from 'Gilmore Girls' was removed because it did not note that the residuals Gunn was referencing are paid by the studio and not the streamer, Netflix," THR tweeted. "This is absolutely absurd. I never even used the word 'residuals' in my interview. The point I was making is that we DON'T see any residuals for number of views on Netflix. Instead, we see a very meager amount from WB based on the licensing. Do better @THR," Gunn replied.
The actor also followed up his tweet with a video response.
"Hey, I just tweeted about this, but I thought I'd do this video to clear some things up," Gunn began. "I did an interview from the picket line at Netflix yesterday for The Hollywood Reporter, and they took that interview down because apparently, I didn't note that my residuals aren't paid by Netflix, but that they're actually paid by the production company, Warner Bros. Okay, first of all, I never used the word 'residuals' in my interview, but that's not the important thing. The important thing is that the whole point of my interview is that Netflix doesn't pay residuals to the actors, so there's no sharing in the success of a show with Netflix."
Gunn continued, "It's true that they pay a licensing fee to Warner Bros. and then Warner Bros. pays residuals from that licensing fee, which is a very small amount, particularly for a show that's been off the air for a long time. But when the show is a huge success and they generate millions of dollars of profits for Netflix, we don't share in any of that. In large part, because there's no transparency with their numbers, but really this is about fairness for everybody and we just want to make sure we have a fair deal. If a show's a success, we should participate in that. That seems totally reasonable, I think anybody can relate to it. But Hollywood Reporter, if you want to reach out to me, I'm here to talk any time, but I think that interview should go back up. Peace everybody." You can watch his video below:
— Sean Gunn (@seangunn) July 15, 2023
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.
"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."
What did you think of Gunn's video? Tell us in the comments.
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