Fran Drescher Defends Kim Kardashian Photo as SAG Strike Begins

Despite what's going on in Hollywood, SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher has a life too. History was made on July 13 when it was announced that 160k actors are going on strike and joining the writers already on the picket line as contract negotiations couldn't be met to their standards. Drescher, who starred in The Nanny, released a statement along with the organization standing in solidarity. But she's also facing backlash from social media users who say she's "tone deaf" as a photo with her alongside Kim Kardashian in Italy attending a Dolce & Gabanna event surfaced. Drescher is defending herself against the backlash. 

She said at an official press conference confirming the strike about the controversy: "I'm a brand ambassador for a fashion company, and so is Kim. I had only met Kim seconds before that publicity photo was taken. It had nothing to do with being at a party or having fun, it was absolute work," she told reporters. "I was in hair and makeup three hours a day, walking in heels on cobblestones doing things like that, which is work and not fun. I'm sure Kim would have rather been at her home in Malibu with her children as well. It's work, and that's what we do."

The strike, the first time in 40 years that both writers and actors are on strike simultaneously, Drescher said in part: "We are the victims here. We are being victimized by a very greedy entity. I am shocked by the way the people that we have been in business with are treating us. I cannot believe it, quite frankly, how far apart we are on so many things. How they plead poverty, that they're losing money left and right, when giving hundreds of millions of dollars to their CEOs. It is disgusting. Shame on them. They stand on the wrong side of history at this very moment".

She added: "We stand in solidarity, in unprecedented unity. Our union and our sister unions and the unions around the world are standing by us, as well as other labor unions, because at some point the jig is up. You cannot keep being dwindled and marginalized and disrespected and dishonored. The entire business model has been changed by streaming, digital, AI. This is a moment of history that is a moment of truth. If we don't stand tall right now, we are all going to be in trouble."