“This isn’t even about people in the entertainment industry … This is about you and your family and your neighbors and your children.”
- Fran Drescher
SAG-AFTRA President
Individuals everywhere could soon have stronger legal protections against unauthorized replication of their voice or likeness, thanks to the reintroduction of the SAG-AFTRA-supported Nurture Originals, Foster Art and Keep Entertainment Safe, or NO FAKES, Act in the Senate.
If passed, the bill — sponsored by Sens. Marsha Blackburn, Chris Coons, Amy Klobuchar and Thom Tillis — would establish a federal right in voice and likeness to protect against unauthorized use of digital replicas in audiovisual works and sound recordings.
SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher spoke in support of the bill at an April 9 press conference in Washington, D.C., saying, “This is not just a bipartisan issue, this is a nonpartisan issue … This isn’t even about people in the entertainment industry … This is about you and your family and your neighbors and your children, most important. So let’s all gather around this phenomenal bill, the NO FAKES Act, now because there isn’t a moment to lose.”
The NO FAKES Act would preserve existing protections at the state level, such as Tennessee’s landmark SAG-AFTRA-supported ELVIS Act and California’s SAG-AFTRA-sponsored AB 2602, while providing one strong, consent-based framework for digital replica uses in expressive works nationwide.
About SAG-AFTRA
SAG-AFTRA represents approximately 160,000 actors, announcers, broadcast journalists, dancers, DJs, news writers, news editors, program hosts, puppeteers, recording artists, singers, stunt performers, voiceover artists and other entertainment and media professionals. SAG-AFTRA members are the faces and voices that entertain and inform America and the world. A proud affiliate of the AFL-CIO, SAG-AFTRA has national offices in Los Angeles and New York and local offices nationwide representing members working together to secure the strongest protections for entertainment and media artists into the 21st century and beyond. Visit SAG-AFTRA online at SAGAFTRA.org.