‘We Can Stop It’: Alan Cumming, Benedict Cumberbatch and Benedict Wong Urge UK Leaders to Block Paramount-WBD Merger

Alan Cumming, Benedict Cumberbatch and Benedict Wong have written an op-ed opposing the $110 billion Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger, urging their leaders to block the deal.

Their Guardian guest column out early Monday — entitled “A TV and cinema calamity could be disastrous for what you watch and what you know. Act now to stop that” — offers a recap of the merger thus far, while applauding Secretary of Culture, Media and Sport Lisa Nandy for saying she is “minded to intervene.” Still, the actors insist the U.K. government must do more to protect the British public.

“As actors and public figures who have spent our careers in the arts in Britain – working with British crews, on British stages and sets – we have a responsibility to the public who support, enjoy and consume the art we make,” the trio began. “The U.K. is being threatened by a media merger that would harm our workers, our culture and the public – but we can stop it.”

“U.K. film and television are not just images on your screens; they are the lives and livelihoods of thousands of workers and families, whose work supports local economies,” the actors continued. “The industry supports more than 180,000 jobs, generated £6.8bn in production spend last year alone and adds roughly £12bn a year in value to our economy. It is one of the things the UK still does better than almost anyone, and a cultural heritage we must protect.”

Their piece also explains how past mergers have impacted workers and audiences alike, while praising America’s 12 state attorneys general for getting the deal temporarily paused and noting that the EU has conditionally backed the merger.

“Every merger of this kind narrows the funnel through which stories can reach audiences,” Cumming, Cumberbatch and Wong added. “In plain English, that means redundancies, cancelled productions, fewer films commissioned and fewer risks taken.”

“Actors are often told to stay out of legal arguments. We understand the instinct. But we have spent our lives on enough U.K. sets, worked alongside enough U.K. crews and watched enough brilliant work from the U.K. struggle to find a buyer to know that this is not someone else’s argument. It is ours,” they concluded. “Nandy has opened the door to intervention. She must walk through it, for the sake of everyone who makes U.K. television and film – and everyone who watches it. If she does not, we will be left without the ability to protect our industry and our culture from this consolidation. We must not push the public’s interest aside; we must stand up for it and block this merger.”

Click here to read their full op-ed with The Guardian.