The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) has gone on strike against the “CoComelon: The Melon Patch” YouTube series, citing producers’ unwillingness to provide “fair wages and benefits” to crew members.
The union announced its picket of the series Wednesday, after attempts to unionize the production were unsuccessful. The strike was announced seven days into a planned 16-day shoot.
“IATSE is ON STRIKE against ‘CoComelon: The Melon Patch,’ a live-action spin-off of the union-made animated series,” the union wrote on its official Instagram page. “Rather than provide fair wages and benefits to the crew the producer is trying to hire scabs for the production that’s shooting in Sun Valley, Calif.”
TheWrap has reached out to “CoComelon” producer Moonbug Entertainment for comment.
IATSE has shared that 22 crew members who worked on the first season of “The Melon Patch” returned to work on its second. Those crew members have alleged a decline in working conditions as well as greater workloads. IATSE additionally purports that the YouTube series’ producers have already begun attempting to hire replacement workers to replace the striking crew members.
Allie Rivera Quiñonez stars in “CoComelon: The Melon Patch” as Ms. Appleberry, a fictional preschool teacher. Working with a group of other “talented teachers,” Ms. Appleberry uses music, creativity and play to help still-developing toddlers understand essential life concepts and topics. The series is a spin-off of the original, animated “CoComelon” YouTube videos that became a popular online phenomenon throughout the 2010s.
“The Melon Patch” launched in September 2025.
A feature-length “CoComelon” film is currently on deck to be released by Universal Pictures in February 2027. Elsewhere, while Netflix is committed to continuing streaming spin-offs “CoComelon Lane” and “Blippi,” the primary “CoComelon” animated series, including all of its existing seasons, is set to move from Netflix to Disney+ in 2027.
