Workers on the set of “The Gun on Second Street,” a film that had Sean Penn and California Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell listed as executive producers, walked off in protest while attempting to negotiate a union contract.

The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) claimed that a “majority” of the crew, about 40 people, left the set in West Virginia, per The Hollywood Reporter. IATSE reported that the striking crew members were seeking set wages, health benefits, and pensions, but had, up to that point, “been misclassified as 1099 independent contractors rather than employees.”

“Every production, regardless of budget or political connections, must respect the rights of the people who make film and television possible,” IATSE international president Matthew Loeb said. “The Alliance is prepared to support this crew as they take collective action to secure safe working conditions, fair compensation, proper classification and a voice on the job.”

The move apparently prompted Penn’s Projected Picture Works and its partners to remove their names from the film.

The film’s producers released a statement disputing these allegations. “We have compensated our production crew well for their time,” the producers said. “However, we will not attempt to resolve our differences with the union through the press. Therefore, we have no further comment.”

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Swalwell added in a statement that he had no involvement in the business decisions, THR noted, and threatened to remove his name from the project. 

“I am a lifelong supporter of labor,” the congressman added. “While I am prohibited by Congressional ethics rules from participating in the negotiations between production and labor, I joined the film expecting labor standards would be adhered to. I urge the production team to seek a fair outcome for the crew. Should that not be achieved, I will remove my name from the film’s screen credits.”

“The Gun on Second Street” is being pitched as “an allegory of the gun crisis in the United States.” The film, written and directed by Rohit Karn Batra (“Line of Descent”), follows two police officers in Pittsburgh. Drama ensues when one of them accidentally kills the other while responding to a domestic violence call. He leaves the force, only to fall in love with his deceased partner’s widow years later. 

Michigan state Senator Mallory McMorrow, a Democrat who’s running for U.S. Senate in 2026, said in a video posted to social media on Thursday that she “would not be able to control” herself if she saw conservative Supreme Court Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh in public.

The undated video, posted on X by Towhall, shows McMorrow answering a question from someone about the conservative majority on the Supreme Court. McMorrow, a Notre Dame grad and one of the Democratic leaders in the Michigan Senate, said that it makes her “furious” that Coney Barrett also graduated from Notre Dame.

“I talked to somebody yesterday who said they saw her with Brett Kavanaugh at a tailgate last weekend. I was like, ‘I would not be able to control myself,'” McMorrow said. “That would be a bad— there would be beers thrown in people’s faces.”

🚨WATCH: Democrat Candidate for Senate in Michigan Mallory McMorrow says that she would not be able to stop herself from hurling cans of beer at Amy Coney Barrett & Brett Kavanaugh if she saw them in public.

Despicable! pic.twitter.com/aQTsPBnvQC

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) December 18, 2025

The Daily Wire reached out to McMorrow’s Senate office and her campaign team to ask about her comments, but they did not respond.

Conservative Supreme Court justices have been the target of intense criticism from Democratic leaders in recent years. In 2020, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called out Kavanaugh and Justice Neil Gorsuch by name and warned that they would “pay the price” if they voted to overturn Roe v. Wade.

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“You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions,” Schumer added at the time. The Democratic leader was rebuked by many of his colleagues and by Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote, “Justices know that criticism comes with the territory, but threatening statements of this sort from the highest levels of government are not only inappropriate, they are dangerous.”

Then, in 2022, shortly after the court overturned Roe v. Wade, a trans-identifying male traveled to the home of Kavanaugh with plans to assassinate the conservative justice.

McMorrow is one of three Democrats who are seeking to replace retiring Democratic Senator Gary Peters. The 2026 election in Michigan will be one of the most closely watched contests in the country, as Republicans hope to capitalize on the open seat. McMorrow, 39, has served in the Michigan Senate since 2019 and became the Senate majority whip in 2023, where she has focused on advocating for abortion, especially after the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022.

Earlier this year, McMorrow rubbed shoulders with a radical leftist blogger who mocked Charlie Kirk after he was assassinated. In late September, McMorrow attended a fundraiser alongside Rebecca Schoenkopf, who, a day after Kirk was killed, published an article titled “Second Amendment Comes for Charlie Kirk.”