Fran Drescher has been elected SAG-AFTRA’s next president, after a hard-fought election over Matthew Modine.
Joely Fisher was also elected to succeed Camryn Manheim as the union’s secretary-treasurer, besting Anthony Rapp. Drescher received 16,958 votes and Modine, 15,371 votes. For the post of secretary-treasurer, Fisher received 18,547 votes and Rapp, 13,593 votes. A total of 122,154 ballots were mailed, 26.49 percent were returned.
Drescher shared in a statement provided to The Hollywood Reporter.
“I am honored to serve my union in this capacity. Together we will navigate through these troubled times of global health crisis and together we will rise up out of the melee to do what we do best, entertain and inform,”
“We must never forget the important contribution we make to many millions of people each and every day when they buy a ticket to sit in a dark theater or turn on their TV’s or streaming devices. Our chosen professions within the SAG-AFTRA membership have literally gotten Americans to laugh, to learn to momentarily escape that we are all in a pandemic. We members serve an invaluable purpose in the grand scheme of things. We must never forget who we are and what unites us as one union. Today marks the beginning of a fresh start, let us forge forward in a holistic and non-partisan ascension towards the precipice of a new dawn,” Dresher continued.
“Only as a united front will we have strength against the real opposition in order to achieve what we all want: more benefits, stronger contracts and better protections. Let us lock elbows and together show up with strength at the negotiating table,” the actress continued, noting that she will equally “fight like hell” for those who voted for her as well as for her opponent.
Former president Gabrielle Carteris, who served two terms, shared a farewell message on SAG-AFTRA’s website as results came in.
“As SAG-AFTRA transitions to a new leadership team, I wanted to thank each of you for allowing me the honor of serving as your president for more than five years. It has been a time of great change for our profession. We challenged an in-the-shadows culture of sexual harassment head-on and navigated the rapid expansion of streaming services, changes in media ownership, and the scores of new content platforms that employ us. We have journeyed through some very challenging times together, from holding the longest strike in our union’s history and gaining secondary payments in video games to organizing Telemundo — our first television network in 50 years,”
