The ongoing writers’ strike shows no sign of ending anytime soon, and things could be about to get even worse with reports of actors preparing to join the picket lines, too. You’d think the industry’s biggest and brightest creatives would have the backs of their peers, then, but Ryan Murphy is doing the opposite.
The writer, director, producer, and showrunner behind a slew of massive hits – who also happens to be under a $500 million development contract with Netflix that’s poised to end soon – threatened litigation against East Coast strike captain and Strike Rules Compliance Committe member Warren Leight, per The Hollywood Reporter.
In a letter sent by his attorney to the WGA, Murphy called out the guild member for a tweet claiming that American Horror Story crew members would be “blackballed” if they didn’t cross the picket lines. Naturally, Murphy took issue with the salacious scuttlebutt, although Leight has since deleted the post in question as well as issuing both an apology and a retraction.
However, the response on social media has hinted that it isn’t all that surprising that the brains behind the likes of Dahmer, Ratched, and The Watcher is happy to sue WGA members in the midst of heavily-publicized action, adding another curious wrinkle to the story.
Ironically, despite the strike showing no signs of abating, Murphy currently has three productions that are carrying on without a care in the world, which is rubbing his opponents the wrong way. So much for a show of solidarity, but it should at least be noted that Leight isn’t without fault having come clean and admitted his initial tweet was “unsubstantiated.”