Actor Will Smith has taken to social media in support of the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes and to talk about the importance of this moment for both guilds.
The accompanying photo with the Instagram post shows Smith posing alongside students at The Screen Acting Studio where he dropped in on a class.
The WGA has been on strike since the start of May and SAG-AFTRA since July 14th as both unions seek fairer contracts. For now, there’s no indication as to when these strikes will end.
The posting today puts attention on the strikes among Smith’s large social media following. The actor says:
“I wanna talk for a second about ACTING. As some of y’all mighta heard, my guild, @SAGAFTRA are on strike along with our writer colleagues in the WGA.
It’s a pivotal moment for our profession. 33 years into my career as an actor and there are still some days when I feel like I’m that kid from Philly who’s on borrowed time, even though I know I’ve been extraordinarily blessed and lucky to have worked as an actor all this time.”
Whilst many working actors have stepped out in support of the strikes, only a few major stars have been publicly involved in the protests or speaking about it on social media.
The non-profit SAG-AFTRA Foundation was quick to respond to the post with a “Thank you for your support Will!”.
Smith wrapped production in Atlanta on a fourth “Bad Boys” film several weeks ago. The posting comes as Sony announced a June 14th 2024 Father’s Day weekend release for that film earlier this afternoon.
