Backlash over Drew Barrymore resuming her talk show, explained
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Drew Barrymore is facing backlash for returning to work on The Drew Barrymore Show, her daytime talk show, during the ongoing writers' and actors' strikes.
The show wrapped production on its third season in April 2023, just weeks before the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike began in early May. The coincidental timing may have led some to believe the show was shut down indefinitely out of solidarity with the strike instead of just a regularly scheduled summer hiatus, so when the actress announced that The Drew Barrymore Show would be returning to air on Monday, Sept. 18, it was met with some criticism.
CBS Drew Barrymore
Is the The Drew Barrymore Show in violation of strike rules?
Barrymore, who has been acting since age 5, is a member of SAG-AFTRA, but talk shows fall under the Network Television Code contract, which is not the same as the Television/Theatrical/Streaming contracts that expired after the guild and the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers (AMPTP) failed to reach a deal, resulting in an actors' strike. So, like reality TV, sports, morning news shows, soap operas, and game shows, performers on talk shows are not currently on strike.
In announcing her show's return, Barrymore insisted in an Instagram post that it is "in compliance with not discussing or promoting film and television that is struck of any kind" per SAG-AFTRA strike rules. Additionally, a spokesperson for CBS told EW, "The Drew Barrymore Show will not be performing any writing work covered by the WGA strike."
Although the show is not in direct violation of the simultaneous strikes, by returning to air it does leave its WGA-member employees behind. As the WGA-East succinctly put it on social media, "The [Drew Barrymore Show] is a WGA covered, struck show that is planning to return without its writers. The Guild has, and will continue to, picket struck shows that are in production during the strike. Any writing on 'The Drew Barrymore Show' is in violation of WGA strike rules."
The @DrewBarrymoreTV Show is a WGA covered, struck show that is planning to return without its writers. The Guild has, and will continue to, picket struck shows that are in production during the strike. Any writing on “The Drew Barrymore Show” is in violation of WGA strike rules.
— Writers Guild of America, East (@WGAEast) September 10, 2023
Why are people picketing the show now?
Although it won't be back on air until next week, The Drew Barrymore Show began taping new episodes on Monday, which prompted picketers to assemble outside CBS Broadcast Center in New York. Barrymore and representatives from CBS insist that the show is in compliance with the strikes by refusing to promote work from the struck studios and streamers, but as WGA-East stated, the show itself is a struck production.
On the first day back, two audience members said that they were removed from the show taping for wearing WGA pins they say they were given on their way inside. The two audience members joined the picketers after being kicked out of the studio. The show shared a statement with EW that said "Drew was completely unaware of the incident and we are in the process of reaching out to the affected audience members to offer them new tickets."
The Drew Barrymore Show Drew Barrymore dressed as M3GAN with Allison Williams on 'The Drew Barrymore Show' in January 2023
Is Drew Barrymore getting more backlash than other talk shows?
The Drew Barrymore Show seems to have received more — or at least louder — criticism online than other daytime talk shows have for continuing work throughout the strikes. Part of the outcry over Barrymore may be due to the host's previous sense of solidarity with strikers. Her decision to return to work sans WGA writers rubbed some the wrong way as she initially seemed more sympathetic to the cause when she stepped down from hosting the MTV Movie Awards in solidarity with the WGA back in May. "I have listened to the writers, and in order to truly respect them, I will pivot from hosting the MTV Movie & TV Awards live in solidarity with the strike," she said in a statement just days after the strike began.
However, it's important to note that picketers have also been on the line outside The View, which chose to continue on without its WGA writers in May and returned for its 27th season last week.
Late-night talk show hosts Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver settled on a different approach to the strikes, teaming up to cohost a podcast, Strike Force Five, to raise funds for their out-of-work staffers while their shows remain dark as the strikes continue.
The WGA has been on strike since May 2. The guild seeks fair wages, protection against artificial intelligence disrupting writing practices, more transparent streaming data, better residuals, and many more issues. Most of the WGA's proposals have been swiftly rejected by the AMPTP, the body representing Hollywood's major studios and streaming services.
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