Drew Barrymore has announced she is pausing her self-titled talk show amid the writers strike.
Last week, the actress and Drew Barrymore Show host revealed her show would be returning without writers and would abide by strike rules in not discussing struck work. Barrymore apologized after she received pushback and said there was nothing she could do to make it OK.
“I have listened to everyone, and I am making the decision to pause the show’s premiere until the strike is over,” Barrymore wrote in a statement on Instagram Sunday. “I have no words to express my deepest apologies to anyone I have hurt and, of course, to our incredible team who works on the show and has made it what it is today.”
She concluded, “We really tried to find our way forward. And I truly hope for a resolution for the entire industry very soon.”
A spokesperson for The Drew Barrymore Show shared a statement that read, “We support Drew’s decision to pause the show’s return and understand how complex and difficult this process has been for her.”
The news that she would be pausing the show comes days after the talk show host posted her now-deleted video apology on Instagram. She explained in the clip that she was accepting responsibility and did not have a “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 about her decision in the video. “We aren’t gonna break rules, and we will be in compliance. I wanted to do this because as I said, this is bigger than me, and there are other people’s jobs on the line.”
Shortly after Barrymore announced her show would be returning, a spokesperson for the Writers Guild told The Hollywood Reporter that it had stayed off the air since the strike began but has now “unfortunately” decided to air without writers
“The Guild has, and will continue to, picket any struck show that continues production for the duration of the strike,” the spokesperson said, adding that the WGA was expected to picket outside Barrymore’s show the following day.
During the picket lines in New York City, two audience members, Dominic Turiczek and Cassidy Carter, say they were asked to leave the taping after entering the studio wearing pins that read “Writers Guild on Strike.”
“It really has changed my perspective on her and the show in general,” Carter told THR. “I’ve been completely alarmed and disheartened by this whole process.”
