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Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav was invited to Boston University to give a speech to accept his honorary degree, per EW. Unfortunately for him, his twenty minute speech was interrupted with boos from the BU class and chants in reference to the WGA strike, telling him to “pay [his] writers.”
When Boston University announced Zaslav's commencement speech, the WGA responded that they would be at the event, picketing. B.U.'s Young Democratic Socialists of America organized the picketing and chants alongside WGA East, Boston DSA, and the DSA-LA Hollywood. Apparently BU didn't get the memo that maybe their students, the next generation of the workforce, wouldn't care to hear from him.
Zaslav opened his speech with, “some people will be looking for a fight.” And he was right. The Warner Bros CEO's speech was also interrupted by chants that went, “We don't want you here,” “Pay your writers,” and “Shut up Zaslav!” At one point, there was also a plane overhead that said, “David Zaslav – Pay Your Writers.”
This comes amid the WGA strike, or Writer's Guild of America strike, where writers are currently striking to secure fair pay and not get replaced by AI technology like ChatGPT. The writers have been striking since May 2, fighting for a new payment system with the rise of streaming services. Companies like Warner Bros Discovery have been cutting down the heads in writer rooms, shortening their contracts, and overworking their writers. TV series budgets have increased but the pay for writers hasn't reflected that change.
