Another example of protest against Drew Barrymore’s decision to resume her daytime talk show is the National Book Foundation’s announcement that it will drop Barrymore as host of the upcoming awards ceremony. Barrymore was announced back in July as the host of the ceremony, which will take place on November 15 in New York.
In one Post on X On Tuesday, the foundation wrote: “The National Book Awards is an evening dedicated to honoring the power of literature and the unparalleled contributions of writers to our culture.” In light of the announcement that The Drew Barrymore Show will resume production, The National Book Foundation has withdrawn Ms. Barrymore’s invitation to host the 74th National Book Awards Ceremony. Our aim is to ensure that the focus of the awards remains on celebrating writers and books and we thank Ms Barrymore and her team for their understanding in this situation.”
A representative for Barrymore could not immediately be reached for comment.
The move follows The Drew Barrymore Show being demonstrated outside CBS Studios on Monday as filming for the daytime show resumed amid the writer and cast strikes.
Barrymore announced her decision to continue filming the show on Sunday, saying the talk show would not use WGA writers and would otherwise comply 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 finalized,” a SAG-AFTRA representative said. “It is permissible work and Drew’s role as host does not violate current strike rules.”
But Chelsea White, one of The Drew Barrymore Show’s writers, demonstrated outside the studio and told she was surprised and disappointed that the show had been picked up again. “I think in general this is obviously bigger than us three writers on The Drew Barrymore Show. It’s a shame to hear the show is declining because it sends the message that union writers aren’t valuable. And it directly contradicts what the WGA, SAG-AFTRA and all the unions are trying to do together to stand up to the greedy studios.”
On Monday, the protest made headlines after two audience members were thrown out of the taping for wearing WGA pins they received from picketers outside.
“Due to heightened security concerns today, we regret that two audience members were denied participation or entry,” 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 contacting affected spectators to offer them new tickets.”