For the last few years, I was wondering if, or when, someone would file a lawsuit against Actors Equity for defamation, or interfering with employment, or maybe intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Frankly, I thought it would be an actor.
Of course, the irony is not lost on me, and hasn’t been for quite a while, that a union does indeed represent workers.. and how fucking weird it is that a union would sabotage it’s own members, let alone interfere with precious jobs. We’ll get into that insanity in a minute….
Well peeps, the mothership has landed, but with a different character. Garth Drabinsky, a producer who attracts drama, just filed an amended complaint in the Southern District of New York against AEA. He’s seeking $50 million in damages for defamation, emotional distress yada yada…
But now, it seems to me, he’s looking to change the union landscape on Broadway, and take on the union as a whole to essentially isolate it.
Equity put Drabinsky on the “Do Not Work” list, and because of the agreements AEA has with the other unions, he can’t work in basically any capacity in show biz.
He’s hired a former FTC commissioner to go after Equity for anti-trust violations and illegally conspiring with the 4A’s ..AGMA, AGVA, GIAA and SAG-AFTRA to restrict trade and commandeer a monopoly with unlimited power on Broadway. The implications of that charge are earth shattering for the theater industry.
If this case gets to a jury, he’s got as much of a shot at winning as producing a gargantuan show in the midst of a global pandemic that was nominated for 10 Tony Awards.
Honest to God, it’s a fascinating read. She’s a long one…80 pages worth.
Why is Drabinsky on the “DO NOT WORK” list?
The epicenter of his case, the ground zero, is this email from AEA:
Actors Equity accused Garth Drabinsky of being a racist.
Pure and simple. That’s it. That’ll do it. That will destroy anyone in any sector of society, both financially and personally.
What you may not know is Equity has done that very same thing before to it’s own members.
They’ve practiced.
Actors Equity today is a union run on feelings. Mostly the emotions pouring out of the council room and executive office are outrage curated on social media where it doesn’t really matter who gets hurt or caught up in the maelstrom.
The truth is irrelevant.
It just matters that their feelings get air time.
The truth is mostly virtue signaling with the hope that somehow that will accomplish something…some sort of progress I suppose that most unions hammer out in negotiations.
Without a doubt, the weaponization of race by Equity is used as a tool to destroy, malign or silence anyone who gets the Scarlet R slapped on them by the outraged cabal.
About three years ago, in the midst of a union election, the leaders of the union… and seated councilors commandeered a smear campaign to knock others running out of the race. With race.
It centered on accusations of racism, racism by proximity, racism by who the fuck knows that was pretty much led by white women who I guess thought they were doing something good. Advocacy I guess.
A sort of lazy appropriation of the very communities they were evidently trying to speak for.
I’m not gonna get into the specifics, but it got very nasty.
The fallout damage of that high beam virtue signal was lost jobs, lost reputations, death threats, rape threats, fear for safety, etc.
Etcetera etcetera.
I’m sure at this point, everyone who was defamed as well as the “advocates” would rather forget about it and move on.. it was a very ugly time.
It was just so very wrong. I mean, really wrong. Despicable that no one in the leadership of the union even tried to stop it.. quite the opposite.
They participated.
It’s easier to fuck with an actor’s reputation I think, but I do believe the union picked the wrong guy to fuck with this time.
I can’t come up with the right words to describe…disgusting, repulsive, loathsome?… so casually using race as a weapon.
OK, let’s get this out of the way. You may think Garth Drabinsky is a bully. Or an asshole. Or mean. He’s a favorite for all of that. I’m sure he’s done shitty things, owed people money and yelled. I’m not discounting any of that. I was there for some of it.
None of those… none of them… matter. They don’t matter, at all.
What matters is that he is not a racist. That’s it. Only.
Garth Drabinsky is not a racist. Actors Equity knows he is not a racist.
The interesting thing to me is he can prove that for himself. Very few people either have the resources or track record to refute being labeled a racist.
Read his complaint.
Right outta the gate, neutralizing a creative producer who has quite an extensive track record of hiring minority actors for decades doesn’t seem, well, smart for a union representing actors and stage managers who need work.
But feelings.
Recently, a new production contract agreement was ratified by the union and it contained a very telling quote from the President of AEA Kate Shindle.
There were modest gains, and mostly stuff that should have been part of the contract for decades regarding understudies and swings. Some free stuff as well limiting rehearsal hours thrown in too.
And a big concession to producers is allowing them to hire short term replacements, but nothing of substance to address the long and short term effects of shutdowns on Broadway. That’s sorta crazy to me.
But, keeping the Production Contract at all is a huge win for the union…although it’s not going to be used as much in the future I would wager.
“The industry is not entirely back yet, and while we were looking to reinvent the whole way the theater industry operates, we’re also faced with real financial considerations,” Shindle said.
And here is what that means:
First of all, the industry will never be back to what it was in all probability. It baffles me that a union being faced with “real financial considerations” would be worth mentioning… of course that is the reality of unions.
But mentioning that as a mea culpa is revealing. It signifies a basic lack of understanding and grasp of negotiating contracts that pay money. They are financial by definition. It also speaks to a very vocal sect of the union as well.
Which leaves us with “….we were looking to reinvent the way the theater industry operates.”
We were looking to reinvent the way the theater industry operates.
The first question I had when I read that was …for who? Who needs the entire theater industry reinvented? Is it for the audience? Producers? Actors? Why would AEA single-handedly look to reinvent the theater industry? How would they do that?
Here’s the easy answer… the transformation is being pushed by identity politics. That’s the easiest way I do believe the union can see progress … based in skin color and ethnicity for the most part.
There is an unmistakable push by the union for diversity in every aspect of the business… cherry picked at best… that has a common theme..
Politely I will say non-white. No all white creative teams for starters, amongst scores of other stuff. My inbox is full of missives from AEA that are based in identity.
That battle of whatever non-white is has been raging in the union and theater industry for a few years now… I have no idea to what end.
With his past transgressions walking in the door behind him, Garth Drabinsky is the perfect poster child for curing the theater industry, at least by an organization that wants to reinvent … itself?
Even though he’s a disabled Jewish dude.
If you read his complaint, the racial animus was palpable, with some kinda blackmail stuff thrown in to put in a good word for him to the union that was transactional.
Anyway, of course, it’s just all wrong. All of it.
Progress can’t be made this way.. and labeling Drabinsky a racist doesn’t help. Targeting him doesn’t help create some sort of racial utopia.
What it does, though, is cause real damage.. and I’m confounded as to why the union would do this… at the very least opening themselves up to this lawsuit.
Morality aside, because I do believe the union jumped that shark a while ago.. what lawyer signs off on this? Does anyone who is paid with the shit ton of money I’ve put into the union really think it’s wise to target producers with accusations of racism?
I have no idea if Garth Drabinsky will win his lawsuit, but the can of worms has all the elements of a great show.
My question is…. Is it the show the union wants to see?
Robert DuSold 
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