Susan Sarandon is receiving praise for her recent arrest in New York while protesting about fair wages for tipped service workers.
Authorities arrested eight protesters with the One Fair Wage campaign on Monday at 1 p.m. at the state Capitol in Albany. The eight were briefly held on suspicion of disorderly conduct, New York State police told The Times in a statement. Officers made the arrests after protesters began “sitting and obstructing walking traffic” in the Capitol’s legislative lobby, police said. The protesters were released that same day with an order to appear in court.
Police declined to name those arrested given the minor level of the offense, but video and photos from the Capitol show Sarandon being led away in handcuffs by authorities. Former candidate for New York lieutenant governor Ana Maria Archila was also among those arrested on Monday, according to WNYT.
Even though the “Thelma and Louise” actor has yet to publicly address her arrest, other celebrities and fans applauded her activism.
“Mad respect,” wrote actor Rosie Perez on Twitter, sharing a photo of Sarandon in cuffs.
“I love her,” tweeted author and former presidential candidate Marianne Williamson.
Famed attorney Steven Donzinger, who took on Chevron, also shared a photo of Sarandon’s arrest and wrote “sickening that we must battle for a living wage in the wealthiest nation on earth.”
“Standing up for what is right, even when you receive no direct benefit, that’s what solidarity looks like,” tweeted @NathanielRugh. “Wish more people had the integrity of Susan Sarandon.”
@ByronHeffnerIV agreed and said, “Love her and the solidarity she displays with other activists—who will surely have a harder time dealing with arrests like this than someone of her fame and resources.”
The Oscar-winning actress was protesting with workers rights activists of the One Fair Wage campaign, which is lobbying for legislation that would phase out wages that are below minimum wage for workers who rely on tips, according to the organization’s website. Under current state law, employers are allowed to pay tipped workers, such as restaurant workers, below the state’s minimum wage. And they are supposed to make up the difference with tips.
Sarandon has been a regular at protests in recent years. Just last week, she joined Writers Guild of America members on the writers’ strike picket lines in New York. The “Bull Durham” actor locked arms with climate protesters in 2020 alongside fellow actor and activist Jane Fonda, who has famously been arrested five times in Washington, D.C.
And in 2018, Sarandon was arrested along with hundreds of others while protesting in D.C. against former President Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy that led to the separation of children and their parents at the border.
In the past, she has received backlash for her criticism of law enforcement. She had tweeted a meme criticizing police attendance at the funeral of slain officer Jason Rivera.
The protest on Monday was meant to draw attention to the tipped workers issue ahead of Mother’s Day. The One Fair Wage group said among the nearly 330,000 tipped workers in New York, 58% are women and 49% are people of color.
