Laverne Cox, 54, said the SAG-AFTRA agreement signed with studios and streamers after a 118-day strike was “BS,” criticizing parts of the deal involving AI and residuals. SAG-AFTRA responded that the new four-year agreement includes “significant gains” and poi
NEW YORK — Laverne Cox didn’t have to look far for the emotional through line in her new memoir. “Transcendent.” While promoting the book. the “Orange is the New Black” actress also took aim at a labor deal that reshaped the entertainment industry—calling the new SAG-AFTRA contract with studios and streamers “BS.”.
Cox, 54, criticized the agreement signed by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) in November 2023.
“It was BS, that contract,” Cox told in an interview connected to her memoir promotion. “We got nothing that we wanted in that contract.”
“I feel blessed to be a part of a union and I’m very pro-union, but yeah that was a mess,” she added.
Cox said she has “several” issues with the contract, including how it handles AI and how it treats residuals for actors.
The agreement came after a 118-day strike, a rupture that ended before the deal’s details were fully absorbed by performers. On June 4, SAG-AFTRA announced a new four-year agreement with studios and streamers, scheduled to go into effect July 1.
Under the terms described in reporting about the agreement. studios are allowed to use AI performers if they bring “significant additional value” compared to the human actor or their digital avatar. The same reporting said the union believed the language and an additional arbitration clause would limit AI use.
There was also an explicit restriction tied to labor action: any digital replica that requires consent can’t be used during a strike. Separately. the contract’s plan includes an increase in residuals for movies and TV series that move to streaming and other subscription on demand services by “an average of 5%.”.
When asked to respond to Cox’s comments, a SAG-AFTRA spokesperson said in a statement that the “2026 TV/Theatrical Agreement includes significant gains in many areas, including AI and residuals,” and directed readers to the union’s website for more information.
Cox’s critique. delivered with the bluntness of someone who says she’s spent years learning what power she can and can’t control. comes alongside the personal material she’s bringing into public view. Her memoir includes her account of being sexually abused as a child. and she described how trauma has shaped the way she sees agency.
Cox said she believes half of what happens in life is out of our control, and that she is focusing on the half she can command.
“I can only change my perspective and my behavior,” she said. “But by using my voice, I can maybe help change or bring awareness to other people about various issues and maybe open people’s hearts and minds by using the platform I have and by sharing my stories.”
Laverne Cox SAG-AFTRA AMPTP AI performers residuals 118-day strike Transcendent memoir streaming contracts