Drew Barrymore Defends Resuming Talk Show Amid WGA/SAG Strikes

Drew Barrymore confirmed she is headed back to the studio — despite being picketed.

CBS Media Ventures revealed last week that the fourth season of The Drew Barrymore Show would premiere on September 18. Barrymore did not comment on her decision to return amid the ongoing Writers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild strikes until Sunday, September 10.

“I own this choice,” she wrote in a statement posted via Instagram on Sunday, September 10. “We are in compliance with not discussing or promoting film and television that is struck of any kind.”

But the WGA took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to encourage picketers to be outside her show’s studios in New York City on Monday, September 11.

“Join us in holding the picket line at the Drew Barrymore Show as they resume taping, in the middle of dual Hollywood strikes,” they wrote.

Showing her solidarity with WGA, Barrymore had previously stepped down from hosting the MTV Movie & TV Awards on May 4.

“I love the @mtvawards family and we will be back next year together,” she wrote on Instagram at the time. “I hope you still watch the awards with me Sunday, as it has such wonderful moments to enjoy. I stand with the @wgaeast @wgawest.”

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In her latest statement, Barrymore explained she walked away from hosting because she “had a direct conflict with what the strike was dealing with which was studios, streamers, film, and television.”

But now, she is making a decision to return to her talk show.

“I want to be there to provide what writers do so well, which is a way to bring us together or help us make sense of the human experience,” she wrote. “I hope for a resolve for everyone as soon as possible. We have navigated difficult times since we first came on air. And so I take a step forward to start season 4 once again with an astute humility.”

The Drew Barrymore Show launched in 2020 and was “built for sensitive times and has only functioned through what the real world is going through in real time,” Barrymore wrote in her statement.

Season four is scheduled to include celebrity hairstylist Chris Appleton and a new segment titled “Take Care Everywhere” with Barrymore and founder of Menopause Bootcamp Dr. Suzanne Gilberg-Lenz. The talk show will also continue to feature segments such as Drew-Gooders, Designed by Drew and Cookbook Club.

However, Barrymore will not be able to feature actors promoting movies or scripted TV shows from studios within the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), who typically make up a sizable part of her slate.

On May 1, the WGA went on strike over concerns about residuals from streaming platforms and the use of artificial intelligence to create scripts. The more than 11,000 writers were joined in July by SAG-AFTRA, which has similar concerns regarding things like artificial intelligence and the issue of who owns an actor’s likeness if reproduced.