DENVER (KDVR) — Brooke Shields, known for her performances in “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and “The Blue Lagoon,” called out the Casa Bonita owners and founders of “South Park” on social media during an ongoing union negotiation.
The famous actress spoke out after a petition was filed by Actors’ Equity Association, a union representing live theatre workers across the country, which voted unanimously to authorize a strike for Casa Bonita workers, at the discretion of their lead negotiator.
On Tuesday, the actress released a video of “an open message” on Casa Bonita United’s Instagram account. Shields, who is the president of Actors’ Equity Association, addresses Casa Bonita owners Trey Parker and Matt Stone and said the actors at Casa Bonita aren’t making a living wage and are making less than servers.
Hey Matt and Trey, nice to meet you. As you know, I’m the president of Actors’ Equity Association, the union that represents the performers who work for you at Casa Bonita. You probably know that we’ve been in bargaining for their first union contract for quite a while now. But maybe you don’t know that your restaurant management has been playing really fast and loose with this bargaining process and it’s just not respectful to the performers who put their all into making Casa Bonita the one-of-a-kind destination that it is and that you’ve created. And things are kind of escalating. And I just want to say that these workers are not making a living wage- like actually not. And, in fact, they are being paid less than their coworkers who are actually serving the food, and you know, that’s before you factor in tips. So, they’ve not only been hard at work entertaining Casa Bonita guests and spending their volunteer hours in bargaining – they’ve also been putting their names on a petition. So, I hope you see their petition, and I do hope you take it seriously, and take seriously their requests for you to accept the proposed contract so that we can all put this chapter way behind us. Because without the performers who bring Casa Bonita to life, it’s just a big, pink restaurant. It’s time to do the right thing. Please agree to a fair contract, and please enable these performers to focus on providing the world-class experience that Casa Bonita’s guests expect and deserve and help them get it.
Brooke Shields in an Instagram video.
The video ended with an image of the petition, which Casa Bonita United said they delivered to Casa Bonita management. The petition said that since performers voted to unionize in November 2024, the association and Casa Bonita management have been in negotiations since April, and the majority of workers on the contract have stated that they support a strike.
The petition also addressed the complaint filed against Casa Bonita over claims that it unlawfully cut more than 1,000 hours from the roaming characters, although Casa Bonita said this was temporary.
The document said Casa Bonita “doubled down” on an unfair wage proposal and hasn’t responded to demands about performers’ safety. The petition urged management to accept a contract on the table and warned that more of the Casa Bonita workforce is unionizing.
FOX31 reached out to Casa Bonita, and the restaurant provided the following statement:
“At Casa Bonita, we value all of our team members and their well being. As a policy we do not comment on ongoing labor negotiations.”
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