Here is more on the story from the Boston Herald:
bostonherald.com
The Charlestown-based Teamsters Local 25 — the crew that drives for most TV and movie productions made in Massachusetts — reportedly harassed and threatened the cast and crew of Bravo’s “Top Chef” while the show was filming in Milton earlier this summer, but a network source said the ugly incident won’t deter them from returning to Boston in the future.
“It was an isolated incident but we had a great experience overall shooting in Boston,” the source told theTrack. “I don’t think it would prevent us from coming back. Boston is a great city with a lot to offer.”
According to Deadline.com, the Teamsters threw up a picket line while the hit TV cooking competition was filming at the Steel & Rye restaurant in Milton. The union types were miffed because Bravo was using production assistants to drive their cars and not the union. When “Top Chef” star Padma Lakshmi arrived on the set, picketers called her a “(expletive) whore,” our source confirmed, and threatened to “bash that pretty face in.”
The picketers lobbed sexist, racist and homophobic slurs at the rest of the cast and crew for most of the day, the website reported, and when production wrapped, the “Top Chef” crew found that tires were slashed on 14 of their cars. Milton police confirmed that the union members were “threatening, heckling and harassing” but said no arrests were made. The union protest was confined to just that one day during “Top Chef’s” two-month shoot.
Local 25 president Sean O’Brien was out of town and unavailable for comment yesterday, according to spokeswoman Melissa Hurley.
“As far as we’re concerned, nothing happened,” Hurley said. “This is typical of nonunion companies who often make excuses for why they won’t hire union labor.”
According to the network source, Bravo did try to reach a compromise with the union, but were unable to do so.
A state Film Office spokeswoman said the office was not involved in bringing the show to Boston and had received no complaints regarding the Teamsters’ action.
For years Hollywood avoided the Bay State because of the heavy-handed tactics of the local Teamsters. The union’s past has included convictions for money laundering, extortion, racketeering and shaking down movie producers who tried to film in Boston. O’Brien has said the Local has cleaned up its act and now has a great working relationship with most of the productions that film here.
File Under: No Compliments To The “Chef.”
 |
