SAG-AFTRA eases anti-costume Halloween edict for children, spurring further criticism

Attention SAG-AFTRA members: If your kids want to dress up as Barbie or a Super Mario Brother this Halloween, it’s officially fine.

Following a fierce backlash, leadership of the striking actors union eased its guideline that card-carrying members not dress up as specific film or TV characters, originally saying the costumes could be interpreted as promoting the content of struck studios. (The guidelines instead suggested that members dress up as generic characters, such as a ghost or a zombie.)

But in a SAG-AFTRA statement issued Friday, the union said that the policy “does not apply to anyone’s kids. We are on strike for important reasons, and have been for nearly 100 days. Our number one priority remains getting the studios back to the negotiating table so we can get a fair deal for our members, and finally put our industry back to work.”

The clarification came after several members criticized the costume edict.

“Is this a joke?” Mandy Moore wrote on her Instagram Stories. “Come on SAG-AFTRA. This is what’s important? We’re asking you to negotiate in good faith on our behalf.”

Even with the loosening of the guideline, the union came under public fire. Ryan Reynolds posted in a tweet: “I look forward to screaming ‘scab’ at my 8 year old all night. She’s not in the union, but she needs to learn.”

Former SAG President Melissa Gilbert also weighed in with a tweet. “THIS is what you guys came up with?” posted the former star of “Little House on the Prairie.” “Literally no one cares what anyone wears for Halloween. I mean, do you really think this kind of infantile stuff is going to end the strike? We look like a joke. Please tell me you’re going to make this rule go away….and go negotiate!”

SAG-AFTRA has been on strike for 100 days since July 14. Negotiations broke down Oct. 11 and are expected to resume Tuesday