Bryan Cranston Tells Disney CEO Bob Iger That AI Will Not Take SAG-AFTRA Jobs in Inspiring Speech

As the SAG-AFTRA strike continues, more high-earning celebrities are stepping up to support the union of actors in various ways. While Dwayne Johnson has helped out by making a historic donation to the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, actor Bryan Cranston is firing up the crowd in Times Square. The Breaking Bad star took the stage at a rally in Times Square and expressed shared concerns over AI and the potential lack of future jobs.

“We’ve got a message for Mr. Iger,” Cranston says. “I know, sir, that you look [at] things through a different lens. We don’t expect you to understand who we are. But we ask you to hear us, and beyond that to listen to us when we tell you we will not be having our jobs taken away and given to robots. We will not have you take away our right to work and earn a decent living. And lastly, and most importantly, we will not allow you to take away our dignity! We are union through and through, all the way to the end!”

Cranston was one of several A-listers who took to the stage, including Steve Buscemi, Christian Slater, and Christine Baranski. “Because of SAG, because of real people who worked to help our members, my father was able to die with an amount of dignity that he would not have otherwise had. He lived as long as he did because of SAG,” Slater explains to the audience. Actress Liza Colón-Zayas, who stars in the TV show The Bear, joined the stage to add, “I struggled for 30 years to finally get here, only to find that my residuals have dwindled exponentially.”

AI and dwindling residuals from streamers are two of the key issues concerning the strike. We’re sure to hear more voices emerge in the coming weeks, standing up for all members of SAG-AFTRA.