Brooke Shields is representing workers at Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s Mexican restaurant who claim the Colorado venue is riddled with safety concerns amid poor wages.
“It doesn’t take long to feel how disparaging it is when you visit a place and you see young people excited to perform at the top of their game doing these crazy stunts, or entertaining people … (and) you go personally see them not being cared for,” Shields, 61, told CNN in a report published on Sunday, July 5.
The actress leads a labor union called Actors’ Equity that is currently representing “about 80” of Casa Bonita’s performers who unionized in April 2024 against the South Park creators’ venture, per the outlet.
Us Weekly has reached out to Casa Bonita as well as representatives for Parker, Stone and Shields.
The report also stated that Shields has gone public with Actors’ Equity’s claims after negotiations with restaurant management, including Parker, 56, and Stone, 55, over “not just pay, but fundamental safety issues” haven’t gotten anywhere.
Casa Bonita, located in Lakewood, is renowned for its entertainment, which runs alongside meals from breakfast to dinner. The venue, which was represented during a South Park season 7 episode in 2003, features a 30-foot waterfall, caves and puppet shows that demand artistic performers to partake in shows and stunts including cliff diving and costumed interactions.
Brooke Shields Arturo Holmes/Getty Images
Per CNN, Actors’ Equity, on behalf of performers, has been negotiating with Casa Bonita management for improved protection amid claims of “hypothermia and chlorine toxicity from the diving pool” and groping by restaurant patrons.
Performers are also asking for “a raise to bring them more in line with the servers, who they say make more.” The outlet noted that the union says Casa Bonita has so far “made concessions at the bargaining table but with little offered in return to improve current conditions and wages.”
Shields visited the venue herself in March. “The place is so big it took a while for management to realize we were there,” she told the outlet of her experience. “And then word got out because, you know, I didn’t have a hat on and mustache or anything.”
(l-r) Matt Stone and Trey Parker Leon Bennett/Getty Images for Paramount+
She added that her visit saw her hand-deliver a letter “asking for better wages” for the performers her organization represents. “It was slightly an ambush … you try doing things respectfully, and then you’re not met with equal respect … so you have to resort to other tactics,” Shields told the outlet.
Casa Bonita shared a statement with the outlet in light of its reporting, writing that the restaurant values “all of our team members and their well-being.”
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The statement continued, “As a policy we do not comment on ongoing labor negotiations.”
Parker and Stone, who both grew up in Denver, were longtime fans of the hospitality establishment before they purchased it five years ago. Per Shields via CNN, the pair “have frequented the restaurant recently but have not attended one of the 14 bargaining sessions with Actors’ Equity.”
