Jinkx Monsoon calls on drag queens & queer entertainers to honor actors strike

Drag entertainer Jinkx Monsoon has posted a video on Instagram urging drag queens and other queer entertainers who aren’t union members to honor the actors’ strike. The Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) called a strike after studios refused to meet members’ demands for better working conditions and fair pay.

Streaming giants like HBO and Netflix and studios like Disney and Paramount have been hit hard by the strike, putting several major shows and films in jeopardy and costing the companies millions of dollars. The actors are striking simultaneously as screenwriters who the studios have also stymied in their demands for better working conditions.

Related Stories Wanda Sykes, Joel Kim Booster, Lilly Wachowski, other LGBTQ+ stars support writers’ strike

Online streaming has made millions for CEOs while writers’ salaries and job security have shrunk.

Monsoon joins other major queer actors, writers, and directors who have urged the studios to come to their senses and stop hoarding the money earned by big-budget productions. She explains the definition of a “scab” to other performers (a non-union worker who doesn’t honor the strike and takes a job to replace the striking union member). She warns them that they’re endangering the ability of queer performers to get better working conditions and that they would be forever banned from joining the union.

Get the Daily Brief The news you care about, reported on by the people who care about you.

She points out that while she’s a union member, she has worked in the industry for over a decade, and, “I know first-hand that drag artists, queer entertainers, we are not taken fully seriously. Yeah, you know, especially drag artists. Lots of times we’re treated like a novelty. We’re treated like we’re interchangeable with each other.”

She acknowledges that being an entertainer means “never knowing when your next gig is coming” and that turning down work is “scary.”

“But if a company approaches you right now to promote new work, to act in new work, to write for new work, and you take that job, you will be considered a scab,” she warns. “This could negatively affect your career in the long run when this strike is over.”

“Furthermore, taking a job right now, even though it might be a good opportunity, it might be a good paycheck, you will be undermining the efforts we are trying to make to get better circumstances for all actors, including queer artists, drag artists, and marginalized entertainers.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jinkx Monsoon (they/she) (@thejinkx)

Most writers and actors do not earn millions of dollars per job. The union demands that lead actors in a movie with a $2 million budget earn at least $65,000. Actors also want guarantees that artificial intelligence and computer-generated faces and voices will not be used to replace performers, as studios demand that background performers should be digitally scanned and paid based on one day’s work despite being in multiple scenes.

Actors also want guarantees that artificial intelligence and computer-generated faces and voices will not be used to replace performers. Writers have also demanded that AI not be used to replace them.

Both groups have specifically targeted streaming services for upending their ability to earn residual payments, underpaying them, and hiding all financial data that would show how much the services are making off of their programming.

“I love how the studios are like, ‘nope, don’t wanna regulate AI. But we’ll schedule a meeting,’” Pose writer and director Steven Canals tweeted when the writers went on strike. “Didn’t they do the same thing yrs ago with the internet, and now look where we are with streaming…”

I love how the studios are like, “nope, don’t wanna regulate AI. But we’ll schedule a meeting.” Didn’t they do the same thing yrs ago with the internet, and now look where we are with streaming… #iguesshindsightisnt2020 https://t.co/qnuevTWT6D

— Steven Canals (@StevenCanals) May 2, 2023

While appearances to promote a movie or television show are covered under the strike, live performances, like drag shows, are not part of the strike.