Jamie Lee Curtis hopes she can ‘be Switzerland’ in the SAG-AFTRA strike

Several days ago, there was a groundbreaking ceremony for Project Angel Food’s Chuck Lorre Family Foundation Campus. Jamie Lee Curtis was there and she spoke to various media outlets covering the event. The fact that she gave some interviews is not in violation of the SAG-AFTRA strike – this was not a premiere nor was it promotion for struck work. However, JLC was asked about the actors’ strike and her response was… not great. It was awful, actually:

“I hope I can be Switzerland in all this and say that I hope both sides see the value in continuing conversations… the issues are real and my hope is that no one will be happy with a settlement, but we will get back to work… I’m more Switzerland. I’m not a polarized person here. I don’t like the rhetoric on both sides… Any settlement means nobody’s happy. So there will be a settlement and not everyone will be happy. I don’t like the them vs. us. The fact that there’s a them and an us bothers me. It’s one industry and I hope that all of the sides can recognize the oneness of our industry, and that we are interdependent, and that AI is not interdependent, that human beings are and at the end of the day our interdependency with each other will prevail.”

[From Reuters & THR]

If that sounds repetitive, it’s because she said variations of the same thing to several different outlets, including Variety and Reuters. Those were her talking points, and whenever she was asked about the strike, she declared herself Switzerland, claimed that she doesn’t like the divisiveness of a strike and that she hopes that no one gets what they want. Instead of just owning that bullsh-t opinion, JLC backtracked in a hurry once people were like “WTF, you can’t vocally support your union??” She posted this on Instagram:

TO CLEAR UP ANY CONFUSION!????


On Thursday I attended a beautiful charity event celebrating the groundbreaking for the new campus of @projectangelfood and I was inevitably asked about the strike and I made a comment about wanting to be like Switzerland. All of a sudden the clearly desperate news cycle machine is all over me to clarify those comments.

HERE THEY ARE!

I FULLY SUPPORT the @sagaftra strike, have volunteered making signs multiple times and have donated to the relief fund. I SUPPORT the leadership and SUPPORT our demands. I’m a rank-and-file union member. I am not on any negotiating committee. I believe we have to look at all sides in any conflict in order to find resolution, solution and a fair and equitable settlement. Can we end this now and not turn this into some ridiculous news cycle story AND GET BACK TO THE TABLE AND NEGOTIATE?

[From JLC’s Instagram]

Again, the media didn’t make up anything, the media is not putting words in her mouth – she repeated the same sentiments to multiple outlets covering the groundbreaking, all with the same patronizing, know-it-all attitude that she alone is impartial on this issue. She was the one telling people that she’s Switzerland, she was the one who couldn’t muster up some enthusiastic support for her union.

WATCH: Jamie Lee Curtis said she is hopeful that both studios and striking Hollywood actors see the value of ‘continuing conversation’ to resolve their issues pic.twitter.com/OuFrzVyPTA

— Reuters Showbiz (@ReutersShowbiz) August 5, 2023

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instagram.