When the opportunity presented itself for actress Heather Morris to make a bold statement while on the SAG-AFTRA picket line, she certainly took it — and honored late Glee co-star Naya Rivera while doing it.
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In a post to her Instagram account on Wednesday (Aug. 23), Morris shared photos of herself and a number of her former Glee co-stars protesting as part of the ongoing strikes from the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and Writer’s Guild of America (WGA). While many held up official signs from the actors’ labor union, Morris customized her own with an image of her late castmate, paraphrasing one of Rivera’s character Santana Lopez’s most iconic lines from the show: “[The] only straight I am is straight-up broke,” the quote read.
Elsewhere in her gallery of photos, Morris is with her Glee co-stars, including Darren Criss, Kevin McHale, Jenna Ushkowitz, Becca Tobin, Vanessa Lengies, Jacob Artist and many others. The group is dancing and protesting in L.A., with Morris simply commenting, “God these humans,” in her caption.
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The tribute comes three years after Rivera died at the age of 33 after drowning in Lake Piru, Calif. Morris previously spoke about her relationship with Rivera — as well as the romantic relationship between their characters, Brittany Pierce and Santana — shortly after the actress’ death. “I don’t need to explain what the importance of Santana and Brittany’s relationship was to all of you who are watching because most of you felt like it was your gateway into your current life,” she said in a video at the time. “Most of you felt like it was an inspiration to become your best self. I want you to know that that was never lost on me. It was never lost on Naya.”
The mini Glee reunion came as the WGA entered the 114th day of its strike, while SAG-AFTRA entered its 40th day. While the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) and WGA recently re-entered negotiation to try and bring an end to the writers’ strike, the talks quickly fell apart; the WGA said that the AMPTP was not negotiating in good faith, and rather was hosting “a meeting to get us to cave.”