Hundreds of Condé Nast staffers are in the midst of an historic 24-hour work stoppage strike, with employees at marquee titles like Vanity Fair and GQ walking out of their chic downtown offices on Tuesday to protest the impending threat of layoffs at the iconic media company. When Anne Hathaway, present at the Vanity Fair offices on Tuesday, learned of the strike upon her arrival, she abandoned her scheduled photo shoot and walked out with everyone else, Variety reported Tuesday afternoon.
“They hadn’t even started taking photos yet,” a source told Variety. “Once Anne was made aware of what was going on, she just got up from hair and makeup and left.”
Last week, Condé Nast announced GQ would be absorbing Pitchfork, its iconic music publication, leading to scores of exits, including that of Pitchfork Editor-in-Chief Puja Patel.
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On Tuesday, Condé Nast Entertainment unit vice chair Ben Dewey told The Hollywood Reporter that the walkout “is really about the company engaging in regressive bargaining and breaking the law in bargaining by rescinding an offer that they had previously made around layoffs.”
“I want to say a special shout out to, you know her and you love her, Anne Hathaway and Dolly Parton who have stood in solidarity with us,” a Condé Nast Union organizer said at the union’s rally on Tuesday.
Hathaway’s silent protest carries so much weight partly because of her breakthrough role in 2006’s The Devil Wears Prada, in which she plays an assistant at Runway magazine—a Vogue stand in—who battles relentlessly for autonomy and respect from Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly, a sunglasses-shielded replicant of Condé Nast’s big boss Anna Wintour.
Last week, scathing reports emerged that Wintour had refused to take off her iconic sunglasses while firing Condé Nast employees. And earlier this month, Hathaway shared a Broadway stage with Wintour at Gutenberg! The Musical! They may well end up on less friendly terms after today.
Additional reporting by Corbin Bolies.
