Ellen Pompeo has never been one to mince words — and the ongoing SAG strike is no different, as the “Grey’s Anatomy” star takes Netflix to task.
The former face of the long-running ABC medical drama, 53, took to her Instagram story Tuesday to slam the streamer after it invoked her character, Meredith Grey, for a promotional TikTok.
The TikTok — advertising “Grey’s” streaming on Netflix — shows an early season Meredith standing, arms crossed, as the text changes from “Me when there’s a [bomb emoji] in the chest cavity” to “Me when there’s an icicle [knife emoji] wound.”
The content finishes with Pompeo crying in character as the text reads: “Me when Meredith says ‘Pick me, choose me, love me.’”
“Also me when @netflix doesn’t pay actors residuals holla let’s talk,” Pompeo wrote over a screengrab of the TikTok’s first image.
The pittance many actors make from Netflix residuals has quickly become a hot topic of conversation after the SAG-AFTRA union announced last week that it would strike alongside the Writers Guild, whose picketing started in early May.
Kimiko Glenn, who starred in one of the streamer’s earliest hits, “Orange Is the New Black,” notoriously took to TikTok following news of the strike, to show the staggeringly low amount her residuals came to: just $27.30.
“Why #sagaftra is striking,” wrote the 34-year-old, who played Brook Soso in more than 40 episodes of the show.
SAG announced its strike last week, in the wake of its contract expiring and negotiations breaking down with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents studios and streamers.
In addition to seeking better compensation and working conditions, SAG and the Writers Guild of America alike are concerned about how streaming services like Netflix have changed the game and how the advent of artificial intelligence could as well.
