In another example of protest against Drew Barrymore’s decision to resume her daytime talk show, The National Book Foundation has said they’re dropping Barrymore as host of their upcoming awards ceremony. Barrymore was previously announced in July as the host of the ceremony, which takes place in New York on Nov. 15.
In a post on X Tuesday, the Foundation wrote: “The National Book Award is an evening dedicated to celebrating the power of literature, and the incomparable contributions of writers to our culture. In light of the announcement that The Drew Barrymore Show will resume production, the National Book Foundation has rescinded Ms. Barrymore’s invitation to host the 74th National Book Awards Ceremony. Our commitment is to ensure that the focus of the awards remains on celebrating writers and books, and we are grateful to Ms. Barrymore and her team for their understanding in this situation.”
A rep for Barrymore could not immediately be reached for comment.
The move follows The Drew Barrymore Show being picketed outside CBS Studios on Monday as the daytime show resumed filming amid the writers and actors strikes.
Barrymore announced her decision Sunday to resume filming the show, saying that the talk show would not use WGA writers and would otherwise be complying with WGA and SAG-AFTRA rules.
“The Drew Barrymore Show is produced under the Network Television Code which is a separate contract and is not struck,” a SAG-AFTRA rep stated. “It is permissible work and Drew’s role as host does not violate the current strike rules.”
Yet Chelsea White, one of the Drew Barrymore Show writers, was picketing outside the studio and told The Hollywood Reporter that she was surprised and disappointed that the show had resumed. “I think in general, this is obviously bigger than us three writers on The Drew Barrymore Show. It is a bummer to hear that the show is going back because it sends a message that union writers are not valuable. And it goes directly against what the WGA, SAG-AFTRA, all the unions are trying to band together to stand up against the greedy studios.”
On Monday, the protest made headlines after two audience members were kicked out of the taping because they were wearing WGA pins that they had received from picketers outside.
“Due to heightened security concerns today, we regret that two audience members were not permitted to attend or were not allowed access,” a spokesperson for The Drew Barrymore Show wrote in a statement to THR. “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.”
Source: Hollywood
