Barbie no party? Union lists Halloween costumes prohibited for striking actors

Halloween is going to look different for Hollywood actors as the ongoing strike is now haunting spooky season. 

SAG-AFTRA announced that striking actors must follow strict rules when it comes to wearing costumes for the holiday this year. Performers used to dressing up for work are being asked to be conscious of how they are seen dressing up online. 

In a spooky themed news release, the union shared guidelines on what characters to avoid being seen dressing up as in order to remain in solidarity with the industry strike that’s been in effect since July and is nearing its 100th day. Strike rules prohibit members from wearing costumes inspired by major studio (AMPTP) content. 

“Let’s use our collective power to send a loud and clear message to our struck employers that we will not promote their content without a fair contract,” the post reads.

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The guild is not asking strikers to ditch Halloween altogether but rather to wear generalized costumes like a witch or zombie.  

The guidelines did not clarify whether you could dress up as characters from movie studio adapted content such as Mattel’s Barbie or Nintento’s Mario, which are characters that long predated their 2023 movie adaptations. 

USA TODAY has reached out to SAG-AFTRA for clarification on these costumes. 

The union also released a list of tips on how members can celebrate without breaking guidelines. 

“This Halloween, we wanted to make sure our members don’t inadvertently break strike rules, and have put together some quick tips on the dos and don’ts for costumes,” the guild wrote.

What costumes can actors wear during the strike?

While the strike urged actors to not post photos or videos of themselves dressing up as popular characters from struck content, the following types of costumes are allowed:

• Costumes inspired by common Halloween figures like a ghost, pirate or fairy
• Costumes inspired by commonday careers like a doctor or football player 
• Costumes inspired by non-stuck content like an animated show

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What costumes are striking actors not allowed to wear?

Based on the union’s guidelines the following costumes could be considered banned: 

• Barbie and Ken (from Warner Bros' “Barbie”)
• Wednesday Adams (from Netflix’s “Wednesday”)
• Eleven or Vecna (from Netflix’s “Stranger Things”)
• Superhero characters (from Disney’s Marvel Studios or Warner Bros' DC Studios)
• Harry Potter characters (from the Warner Bros franchise)
• Star Wars characters (from Disney’s Lucasfilm)
• Daenerys Targaryen or Jon Snow (from HBO’s "Game of Thrones")
• Ted Lasso or Roy Kent (from Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso”)
• "Carmy" Berzatto or Sydney Adamu (from FX’s "The Bear")

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Why is there an actor’s strike? 

Since July, SAG-AFTRA members have been striking over issues relating to increases in pay for streaming programming and control over how artificial intelligence uses their images. 

Hollywood studios walked away from guild negotiations this month after seeing the actors’ most recent proposal saying in a statement that “the gap between the AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA is too great, and conversations are no longer moving us in a productive direction.”

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