Brooke Shields has called out Casa Bonita and its owners over the treatment of entertainment workers.
Molly Martin and Instagram
Lakewood’s Casa Bonita seems an unlikely setting for a Hollywood celebrity feud, but here we are.
Actress Brooke Shields, president of the Actors’ Equity Association, has long called out Casa Bonita’s owners, “South Park” creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, for not conceding to the union’s demands concerning pay, safety and benefits at the pink palace.
Shields, a former child model and actor since the 70s, became president of the Actors Equity Association in March of 2024. Later that December, around 80 Casa Bonita performers voted to unionize with the group. Since then, the actress has used her fame and platform to champion the rights of performers in the union. But none of her actions has raised the kind of attention that her recent campaign against Casa Bonita has attracted.
It’s the kind of star-vs-star battle that Hollywood loves. What’s more, Casa Bonita has evolved from a local curiosity to a national spectacle thanks to being featured in several episodes of Stone and Parker’s “South Park” animated series.
Sign up for the Food & Drink newsletter to get the latest stories delivered to your inbox
THANK YOU!
You’re all set.
CLOSE
Trey Parker and Matt Stone at the world premiere of ¡CASA BONITA MI AMOR! at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Santiago Felipe/Getty Images for Paramount+
The Colorado-raised duo purchased the restaurant in August 2021 and spent two years renovating it, capturing the absurdity of the effort in the 2024 documentary “¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” which, among other things, highlighted many of the outrageous safety flaws the old establishment had to fix before reopening.
Apparently, those efforts weren’t enough. Since unionizing, Casa Bonita performers have complained about dangerous working conditions, such as hypothermia and chlorine toxicity among divers, and customers inappropriately grabbing them. They also say they earn less than the servers and are not included in the tip pool. Back in October, the restaurant eliminated roaming characters like Amazon Annie and Black Bart, sparking an unfair labor practice complaint by the union.
Shields paid a surprise visit to the restaurant in March to meet union members and deliver a letter to management demanding, among other things, increased pay and safer conditions. But there’s been no movement since, as neither Stone nor Parker have participated in any of the union negotiations or addressed the matter publicly.
The latest public-facing comment the pair have made about the restaurant was a May 18 appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” where they revealed their initial $8 million investment ballooned into $50 million with all the repairs and other costs.
“We would have been the richest comedians,” said Parker, “but we decided to buy a restaurant. … It was a cool thing to do, but a really dumb thing to do.”
In the same interview, Stone estimated around 12,000 people visit the restaurant in a week.
Shield pressed the issue further earlier this month, this time going to CNN to reveal her March visit and repeat her concerns on the national stage.
“It was slightly an ambush,” she told CNN. “You try doing things respectfully, and then you’re not met with equal respect … so you have to resort to other tactics.”
The story has since been picked by multiple media outlets, such as USA Today, The Hollywood Reporter and US Weekly.
Performers aren’t the only Casa Bonita employees upset with the restaurant’s management. In 2023, servers worked with the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United to deliver a letter outlining several concerns over the establishment’s no-tip, flat rate compensation structure.
Casa Bonita management provided the following statement:
“At Casa Bonita, we value all of our team members and their well-being. As a policy we do not comment on ongoing labor negotiations.”
Casa Bonita is located at 6715 W Colfax Ave., Lakewood and is open from 4 to 10:30 p.m. Tuesday through Wednesday, 11 a.m to 10:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Sunday. For more information, visit www.casabonitadenver.com.