Barrymore dropped as awards ceremony host after she announced 'The Drew Barrymore Show' would return
Picketers chant for Drew Barrymore to pay her writers outside CBS Broadcast Center
Fox News Digital captured video of Writers Guild members outside the CBS Broadcast Center in Manhattan chanting, "Hey Drew. Girl what's good? Pay your writers like you should." (Julia Bonavita / Fox News Digital)
Jennifer Aniston was dragged this week after she "liked" a Drew Barrymore Instagram post about resuming her talk show amid the actor and writers strike.
"V interesting which celebs liked Drew Barrymore’s scabbing Insta post," voice actor Rebecca Norfolk wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Monday. Her screengrab showed stars like Aniston, Cara Delevingne, Jennifer Garner, Lily Collins and Kristen Bell had liked the post in which Barrymore explained her decision to bring her show back, which sparked backlash.
By Wednesday, Garner and Bell appeared to have unliked the post, but Aniston’s, along with Delevingne and Collins, remained.
Other stars like Michelle Pfeiffer, Candace Cameron Bure and Paris Hilton had also liked it.
Jennifer Aniston was called out for liking Drew Barrymore's post. (Steve Granitz / FilmMagic | Taylor Hill / FilmMagic)
"Jenn Aniston needs to watch her double-tapping lately," one person commented on Norfolk’s post, prompting her to comment, "This is why she’s been so concerned about being cancelled (sic) - she can’t control her likes."
Aniston said in a recent interview with WSJ Magazine that she is "so over cancel culture."
"I probably just got canceled by saying that," she joked with the magazine. "I just don’t understand what it means. … Is there no redemption? I don’t know. I don’t put everybody in the Harvey Weinstein basket."
Meanwhile, some of the commenters on Norfolk’s post suggested that celebrities have autolikes set up on their accounts, and another defended Barrymore’s decision because actors are "bored" and "desperate" to get back to work. Norfolk responded with, "Yeah, obviously, but you don’t cross a picket line and you don’t scab."
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Members of the writers and actors guilds picketed outside "The Drew Barrymore Show" this week. (Alexi Rosenfeld / Getty Images)
Another commenter wrote Tuesday, "Not surprised by Anniston (sic) & Bell," while another said, "Aniston seems to keep making news lately for the wrong reasons."
Delevingne also took some heat, with one person writing, "cara always at the scene of the crime" and a second mentioning her work on this season’s "American Horror Story," which continued to film during the strike. "Cara also a scab & crossed the picket lines to film AHS soooo im sure she’s keeping the like," they said.
In her post, Barrymore also explained her to decision to bow out from hosting the MTV Movie & TV Awards during the first week of the writer's strike, stating that it "had a direct conflict with what the strike was dealing with which was studios, streamers, film, and television."
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"I did what I thought was the appropriate thing at the time to stand in solidarity with the writers," she wrote, adding that her talk show had wrapped in April before the strike started, "So we never had to shut down the show."
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She continued, "However, I am also making the choice to come back for the first time in this strike for our show, that may have my name on it but this is bigger than just me. I own this choice."
The 48-year-old insisted the show would be in compliance with union strike guidelines that prohibit promoting movie and TV projects.
"We launched live in a global pandemic," she added. "Our show was built for sensitive times and has only functioned through what the real world is going through in real time. 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. 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 Writers Guild, however, didn’t agree with Barrymore’s assessment that she was in compliance with strike guidelines.
"The @DrewBarrymoreTV Show is a WGA covered, struck show that is planning to return without its writers," the union wrote on X on Sunday. "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."
V interesting which celebs liked Drew Barrymore’s scabbing Insta post pic.twitter.com/uJcQwmFBG2
— Rebecca Norfolk (@RebeccaNorfolk) September 11, 2023
In a statement to Fox News Digital, a CBS Media Ventures spokesperson explained, "'The Drew Barrymore Show' will not be performing any writing work covered by the WGA strike." The show will resume on Sept. 18 without "literary material."
Cristina Kinon, co-head writer of "The Drew Barrymore Show," told Fox News Digital that the staff writers were not notified that the show was returning for a fourth season without writers, noting they are also not being paid.
"I think that everyone has to make their own personal decision about how they're going to move forward in a time when there's a double strike," Kinon said outside CBS Studios in Manhattan, where she and others were picketing. "For me personally, it's important for me to support my union. And to stand in solidarity. And I think we deserve a fair contract."
"I'm sure it was a really difficult decision for [Barrymore] to make," Kinon continued. "I can't speak for what she's thinking, but I think that I would love for everyone in the industry to stand in solidarity with the guilds and to make sure that writers and actors get the contracts they deserve."
Fox News Digital has reached out to reps for Aniston and Barrymore.
Fox News Digital's Caroline Thayer contributed to this report.
