Ben Shapiro Says ‘We Really Don’t Care’ About Union Strike on Jonathan Majors Film: ‘Just the Latest Attempt to Fight Us’

Ben Shapiro responded to the IATSE strike against his upcoming untitled film starring Jonathan Majors, which he is producing through his media company The Daily Wire, saying that controversy has nothing to do with the actor’s troubled past, but rather the people he’s working with — and he couldn’t care less.

“Massive controversy has now broken out over the horrifying issue of Jonathan Majors being in an action movie and then he fell down and now the unions are mad … and we don’t really care very much,” Shapiro said during his Monday episode of his podcast “Ben Shapiro Show.”

Shapiro went on to say that the drama is really about Hollywood wanting control.

“It seems to me this is just the latest attempt — particularly by a lot of folks in the entertainment media — to fight us,” Shapiro said. “They weren’t upset that Jonathan Majors is making a comeback, they’re upset that Jonathan Majors is making a comeback with us.”

He continued: “Hollywood would like to control everything sort of top-down in centralized fashion. They’re upset that we’re operating outside their system and successfully doing so and getting stars like Jonathan Majors to be in movies with us … As soon as we announced Jonathan Majors would work with us, all the articles were about how terrible it was for Jonathan Majors to work with us, not for us to work with Jonathan Majors.”

Trouble is brewing on the set of a new action film, as the day after news broke of union crew members striking the Daily Wire-Bonfire Legend co-production, video was published online of the ex-“Marvel” actor and co-star JC Kilconyne falling through a loose window pane while filming.

While Deadline, which shared the exclusive footage Friday, reported that the actors’ fall was about six feet to the ground and that Kilcoyne needed stitches “all over his hands,” Bonfire Legend producer Dallas Sonnier dismissed the concerns in a statement to TheWrap.

“The actors’ fall was shorter than the failed movie careers of the now-union reps,” Sonnier said, echoing similarly barbed statements of the ongoing strike. (He told Deadline that he doesn’t “negotiate with communists.”)

IATSE confirmed the strike on Thursday, with an individual familiar with the action telling TheWrap that the project’s behind-the-scenes crew members are striking for improved healthcare and safety standards on set. The window accident occurred “after the window was replaced with an unsecured sheet of tempered glass to be purposefully shattered in a later stunt that did not involve any actors.”

Sonnier joined Shapiro on Monday, where he shared more details about the incident.

“Everything was fine, the actors continued to work throughout the day. They went to the hospital at the end of the day, got a couple of stitches, and you know what, we made an awesome movie,” Sonnier said. “The funny thing is the unions tried to start picketing us and protesting, but they could only round up on a given day about seven people and so they just looked like the bad recorder version of the Titanic soundtrack … they really embarrassed themselves … None of the safety concerns ever came up, this was all about money and power.”

Over the weekend, Majors gave TMZ an update on his wellbeing following the fall.

“I’m OK. I was happy to be on set and help tell the story,” Majors said. I am grateful for whoever is checking on me, the cast and crew for regarding our safety. It’s going to be a great movie and I am looking forward to fans seeing it!”

The post Ben Shapiro Says ‘We Really Don’t Care’ About Union Strike on Jonathan Majors Film: ‘Just the Latest Attempt to Fight Us’ appeared first on TheWrap.