Drew Barrymore pauses return of his talk show due to opposition to writers’ strike – The Hollywood Reporter
Drew Barrymore has announced that she will be taking a break from her self-titled talk show due to the writers’ strike.
Last week the actress and Drew Barrymore Show The host announced that her show would return without writers and that she would abide by strike rules by not talking about the strikers’ work. Barrymore apologized after being pushed back, saying there was nothing she could do to make things right.
“I have listened to everyone and am making the decision to pause the premiere of the show until the strike is over,” Barrymore wrote in a statement on Instagram on Sunday. “I don’t have the words to sincerely apologize to everyone I hurt and of course to our incredible team who work on the show and made it what it is today.”
She concluded: “We were really trying to find our way forward. And I really hope for a solution for the entire industry soon.”
The news that she would be taking a break from the show comes days after the talk show host posted her now-deleted apology video on Instagram. She explained in the clip that she was taking responsibility and that there was no “PR machine” behind her decision to restart the show despite the ongoing writers’ strike.
“I certainly couldn’t have expected this kind of attention,” she said in the video about her decision. “We will not break any rules and will follow them. I wanted to do this because, like I said, it’s bigger than me and other people’s jobs are at stake.”
Shortly after Barrymore announced the return of her show, a Writers Guild spokesperson said The Hollywood Reporter that it has not been broadcast since the strike began, but has now “unfortunately” decided to broadcast without writers
“The guild has and will continue to picket any show running during the strike,” the spokesman said, adding that the WGA is expected to picket outside Barrymore’s show the following day.
During the picket in New York City, two audience members, Dominic Turiczek and Cassidy Carter, said they were asked to leave the taping after entering the studio wearing pins that read “Writers Guild on Strike.”
“It really changed my perspective on her and the show in general,” Carter said THR. “This whole process has left me completely disturbed and discouraged.”
