George Clooney speaks out in support of striking actors and writers

Actor, writer, director, and Oscar winner George Clooney is offering support to his colleagues on the picket line.

"This is an inflection point in our industry," Clooney, 62, said in a statement obtained by EW on Friday. "Actors and writers in large numbers have lost their ability to make a living. For our industry to survive that has to change. For actors that journey starts now."

His message comes one day after the Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) formally announced they were going on strike due to an impasse in negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers (AMPTP). The Writers Guild of America, meanwhile, has been striking since May 2.

"It came with great sadness that we came to this crossroads. But we had no choice. We are the victims here," said SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher in a press conference on Thursday, July 13. "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 while giving hundreds and millions of dollars to their CEOs. It is disgusting. Shame on them. They stand on the wrong side of history at this very moment."

This is not the first time Clooney, who recently made a cameo appearance as Bruce Wayne in The Flash, has spoken out in support of striking writers. "I am a member of six unions, and I will not cross any picket lines ever," Clooney told EW in January of 2008, during the last Writers Guild Strike. That strike ended one month later — but there are few signs that Hollywood's current double strike will conclude any time soon.

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