Lil Uzi Vert, Snoop Dogg Feel Effects of Hollywood Writers’ Strike

This week, the Writers Guild of America announced that its members are going on strike. Claiming that the new streaming era of film and television has led to unfair wages, thousands of writers in the WGA union have stopped offering their services until conditions improve.

Because of this, shows like Abbott Elementary, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert are all halting production and will indefinitely stop airing new episodes. Included in this group is Saturday Night Live, which was meant to feature Lil Uzi Vert as a musical guest this Saturday (May 6).

Now, Uzi’s intended first-ever appearance on SNL is canceled, as it was also supposed to be Pete Davidson’s long-awaited return to the show after his departure last May. Along with the disappointment for Uzi, the WGA strike struck a nerve with Snoop Dogg.

On Wednesday (May 3), Snoop joined a panel with Variety‘s executive music editor Shirley Halperin. Speaking on the need for digital streaming platforms to give musicians a higher percentage of profit, Snoop asserted that artists need to take a page out of TV writers’ book.

“[Artists] need to figure it out the same way the writers are figuring it out,” he said. “The writers are striking because streaming, they can’t get paid. Because when it’s on the platform, it’s not like in the box office… I don’t understand how the fuck you get paid off of that shit.

“Somebody explain to me how you can get a billion streams and not get a million dollars? … That’s the main gripe with a lot of us artists is that we do major numbers… but it don’t add up to the money. Like where the fuck is the money?”

In early April, both Lil Uzi and Snoop made electric appearances at WWE’s WrestleMania event. But now, they’re likely in a more subdued mood due to scrapped debuts and underpaid creatives.

Photo by Astrida Valigorsky/Getty Images