Busy Philipps Shares Angry Note Her Daughter Wrote E! After Talk Show Cancellation: 'You Suck'
Busy Philipps is starting off her new year by looking back at the one of her toughest moments in 2019: the cancellation of her E! series Busy Tonight.
On Wednesday, Philipps, 40, shared a gallery of photos on Instagram that detailed the circumstances of her show’s cancellation back in April. Among the pics included selfies of herself crying after hearing the news, text messages with the head of E!, and a tattoo she got the day the show was canceled.
For each photo, Philipps explained its meaning in her lengthy caption. And though it wasn’t easy, Philipps showed she had a good sense of humor about it now — laughing especially at an angry letter her daughter Birdie, 11, wrote to the network.
“I found a letter my daughter wrote to E! and I feel like as this year is almost over, the decade is closing, it’s the right time to post the letter,” Philipps said, adding a laughing emoji.
Birdie’s note, addressed to E! and dated May 7, 2019, certainly was funny.
“You are the worst TV network ever,” Birdie wrote, before listing the reasons why. “1. You got rid of my mom’s show. 2. You made a lot of people lose their jobs. 3. You suck.”
“Well anyways my mom does work much harder than you. So you don’t deserve her. She will find another place and do her show when it becomes popular,” Birdie added.
“She will shove it up your ass,” Birdie concluded the letter.
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Elsewhere in her post, Philipps took her 2 million followers through the day she learned the news, and the message she sent her loved ones — including husband Marc Silverstein, executive producer Tina Fey, and showrunner Caissie St.Onge.
“On APRIL 5, 2019! I flew to Dallas to shoot commercials over the weekend for Michael’s,” Philipps began. “When my plane took off, the song that came on shuffle was my favorite Deerhunter song ‘He Would Have Laughed.’ I felt like it was a good sign. When I landed, my manager texted me to call her. Which I did. And she told me E! would not renew my show after the order was finished in a month. It was effectively cancelled.”
“I was blindsided, especially since the last text I had from the head of E! (who’s now gone🤷♀️) was about marketing for busy tonight that he was excited to tell me about,” she continued. “Anyway. I did what anyone would do. I sat in the lobby of the hotel in Dallas and ordered three tequilas and called Marc, Caissie, Eric, Tina, Caissie again and I cried. I waited for a call or email from someone at E!, which never came so I sent a text to the head of the network that truly makes me lol to this day (slide 3).”
A post shared by Busy Philipps (@busyphilipps) on Dec 31, 2019 at 5:58pm PST
Philipps went on to say that after she got the news, she “took some selfies” and “got a text from Marc reminding me about the Deerhunter song,” which she made a music video to in her hotel room. Afterwards, she said she got a tattoo on her ankle, which features a female skater gliding over the words “f— em” — an illustration seen in her best-selling autobiography).
Things finally changed for Philipps when she read it was a new moon in astrology that day.
“It all started to become clear and I knew things were going to be better than fine,” Philipps said. “Because here’s the thing. The moon was right, the song WAS a good sign, my girl knows something about her mom — I work hard AF and love to prove people wrong and finally, the men will always try to f— you over so f— em and figure out something else.”
She ended her not by promising that she and St.Onge were working on a new project.
“Next year; in 2020 we will finally be able to share it 😍,” Philipps said. “So Happy New Year everyone!!Goodnight you guys! I love you SO much!!!”
On May 5, Philipps revealed that Busy Tonight wouldn’t be returning for a second season. E! also confirmed the news in a statement to PEOPLE.
“Busy Tonight’s last episode for E! will air Thursday, May 16 with a special celebratory half-hour,” a spokesperson said at the time. “Busy is a hilarious and charismatic talent and we are grateful to the entire Busy Tonight team who has delivered countless laughs and heartwarming moments in what will be over 100 episodes.”
