SAG-AFTRA Lauds Advancement of CROWN Act

LOS ANGELES - SAG-AFTRA applauds the passage of the CROWN Act in the U.S. House of Representatives and thanks Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., for her leadership on the legislation.

The Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair Act, HR 2116, would prohibit discrimination in education and employment based on a person’s texture or style of hair. Several states already have such laws.

“Now is the time to reevaluate norms in a multiracial, multiethnic nation such as the United States of America. We must all refine our eyes to see that which is different from ourselves, not as wrong, but simply different. The CROWN Act addresses this with regards to natural hair of people of color. It is an exciting step towards a societal awareness of prejudice, judgment and whitewashing of culture,” said SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher. “People are all different. They have different skin tones, different hair textures, different eye colors and they come in all different shapes and sizes. We must elevate ourselves as a species by embracing positively the many different threads that make up the fabric of the human experience.”

SAG-AFTRA performers of color routinely find themselves on sets where their hair care and styling needs are not met in an equitable manner with other performers. This legislation will help address that disparate treatment on our sets nationwide and end this discriminatory practice in the workplace once and for all.

SAG-AFTRA also thanks Barbara Lee, D-Calif.; Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.; Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass.; and Gwen Moore, D-Wis., for their support of the bill.

The union is also pleased that Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., has reintroduced the CROWN Act in the U.S. Senate, and we are ready to help pass it there as well.

About SAG-AFTRA

SAG-AFTRA represents approximately 160,000 actors, announcers, broadcast journalists, dancers, DJs, news writers, news editors, program hosts, puppeteers, recording artists, singers, stunt performers, voiceover artists and other entertainment and media professionals. SAG-AFTRA members are the faces and voices that entertain and inform America and the world. A proud affiliate of the AFL-CIO, SAG-AFTRA has national offices in Los Angeles and New York and local offices nationwide representing members working together to secure the strongest protections for entertainment and media artists into the 21st century and beyond. Visit SAG-AFTRA online at SAGAFTRA.org.