Marianne Williamson backs film and TV writers on strike

Marianne Williamson, the long shot presidential candidate challenging President Biden for the Democratic nomination in 2024, threw her support behind entertainment writers who started a labor strike on Tuesday.

“The writers’ strike is an embodiment of what’s happening in industry after industry,” Williamson said Tuesday on Twitter. “The fact that people are standing up to unfettered greed, that unions are owning their power and being supported by the public the way they are today, is a very good thing.”

Williamson, a progressive, voiced her support for the writers who are fighting for better pay and protesting other industry issues. The Writers Guild of America, which represents 11,500 workers, started its picketing Tuesday, arguing that after weeks of negotiations with entertainment and streaming giants like Netflix, Disney, Apple and Amazon, the industry has created a “gig economy.”

“The companies’ behavior has created a gig economy inside a union workforce, and their immovable stance in this negotiation has betrayed a commitment to further devaluing the profession of writing,” the guild said in a release. 

Williamson joined fellow progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in backing the strike Tuesday.

“Last year, 8 Hollywood CEOs made nearly $800 million, yet pay for TV writers has fallen by 23 percent over the last 10 years,” Sanders said on Twitter. “I stand with the nearly 12,000 @WGAWest writers on strike for a fair contract.”

Williamson’s public support of the union comes as Biden has remained silent on the strike, with White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre saying Tuesday that the White House encourages “both sides to stay at the table.”

“It’s an ongoing strike, and you’ve heard us say many times before we don’t speak to an ongoing strike,” Jean-Pierre said. “But more broadly … President Biden is a strong supporter of workers’ rights to strike.”