Apparently, the lethal danger to stuntmen does not stop in "The Walking Dead" alone but permeates all throughout Hollywood, as a mother of a deceased stuntman for the show has criticized and revealed the industry's neglect for the safety of stuntmen.
Susan Bernecker, the mother of John Bernecker, a stuntman of "The Walking Dead" who died due to a fall during shooting, has spoken up about her reservations with Hollywood. Susan has much as 60 stunt performer friends who have all worked for western film and television, and she alleged that they all had the same opinion towards how Hollywood treated them, which was how dangerous it was.
"I'm friends with 50 or 60 stunt people. They're like my adopted children, and I heard this all the time. If you take out the word 'sex' and put in 'safety,' it's the same thing. This is parallel in my mind. There are the same pressures and the same risks. People are afraid to speak out because they're afraid they'll never work again or that they'll be looked down upon," claimed Susan, likening the stuntmen debacles of Hollywood to that of the recent sexual assault controversy in the industry.
Stuntwomen, on the other hand, experience much worse, since some were both victims of sexual assault and exposed to dangerous stunts. Some of Susan's female stunt friends have even claimed to have been put in a sexual situation just to get the job.
Hence, Susan has made it her mission to help the lives of stunt performers and to prevent what happened to her son from happening to anyone else in the industry. She is now seeking to form a foundation which will ensure the safety of stunt performers both male and female in Hollywood. Her son's death was a tragedy, not only because he was the only child and was single-handedly raised by Susan, but because he also upheld certain safety ideals for the industry, including walking away from a job which cuts costs in the protection of its stunt performers.
Rest assured, Susan is now making good on the memory of her son and has vowed to help all stunt performers in the future.
