Molly Martin
Audio By Carbonatix
Actress and Actors’ Equity Association President Brooke Shields took to Instagram this week to call out Casa Bonita management and its owners, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, over the pink palace’s treatment of its entertainment workers.
The South Park creators bought the pink eatertainment palace in 2021, and and reopened the place last year after major repairs. The Actors’ Equity Association represents the Casa Bonita performers, who recently delivered a bargaining petition to Casa Bonita management asking for fair wages, safety measures, better scheduling and more.
Casa Bonita eliminated its roaming characters, including Amazon Annie, Black Bart, Captain Isabella and the Sheriff, in favor of a Halloween theme this month. “Restaurant management has been playing really fast and loose with this bargaining process, and it’s just not respectful to the performers who put their all into making Casa Bonita the one-of-a-kind destination that it is,” Shields says in the video, which she ends by nothing that “without the performers who bring Casa Bonita to life, it’s just a big pink restaurant.”
South Park has taken after Brooke Shields before, and Coloradans have always had strong opinions about this big pink restaurant, as shown by the latest comments on Westword’s Facebook page. Says Heather:
The amazing actors, those cited as losing their jobs with short notice, are the passion that makes Casa Bonita great! Without them, it is just a big pink building with overpriced food that’s not very good. People come for the experience provided by the actors that are the lifeblood of Casa Bonita. My whole family agreed it was the best part. I hope they get to return with fair wages and kind practices.
Argues Noah:
People don’t go for the actors. People go for the Casa Bonita experience. You don’t see the people playing Chuck-E-Cheese asking for $30/hour. They knew the pay when they signed up. Why bitch about it now?
Wonders Natalie:
Wait… you can get your equity card by working as a performer at Casa Bonita?
Responds Joe:
Well, I’d consider Casa Bonita to be unique in this concern. Yes the divers and characters are “entertainers”; I think divers have always been better compensated, I would think the workers are compensated by job categories and responsibilities like any other business. I hope the wandering characters aren’t gone over a wage dispute. Let’s be real, I don’t need Kurt Russell as Sheriff, Val Kilmer as Gambler/ Thief or Cleavon Little as Black Bart (it would be really cool if actual actors did swoop in, though), so these guys aren’t actors in that sense. (Neither is Brooke.)
Adds Luca:
The idea that anyone in SAG is using their celebrity capital to advocate for anything other than AI regulation is ridiculous. Picking on Casa Bonita is like saying the violinist is out of tune as the Titanic sinks.
Suggests Scott:
Brooke. Open thy wallet and shut up.
And Miles concludes:
I’m calling it. The South Park episode will be Brooke and Caitlyn Jenner fighting each other because they look the same.
Have you been to the revamped Casa Bonita? What did you think? Post a comment or share your thoughts at editorial@westword.com.
