Sunday night was the MTV Movie & TV Awards. It was supposed to be hosted by Drew Barrymore and attended by all our favorites for an all-around wacky time. But then the bigwigs at the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) couldn’t see the value in livable wages and refused to meet the Writers Guild of America’s (WGA) demands so they were forced to strike. MTV didn’t cancel their show (although Drew dropped out as host in solidarity with the writers), but they switched from live to clips. It doesn’t sound like a big move, but at least it gave others a platform to speak out in favor of the strike. People like Comedic Genius Award winner Jennifer Coolidge. Jennifer used her acceptance “clip” to support the writers and the strike.
Jennifer Coolidge is speaking out in support of the ongoing Writers Guild of America union strike.
While accepting the Comedic Genius Award at Sunday’s 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards, The White Lotus star, 61, gave a shout out to the writers.
“Almost all great comedy starts with great writers and I just think that as a proud member of SAG, I stand here before you tonight, side by side with my sisters and brothers from the WGA,” she said. “They’re fighting right now, fighting for the rights of writers everywhere.”
“I think, in the the words of Shakespeare, he once said, ‘The play is the thing,'” she continued. “I don’t want to put words in his mouth or anything, but I think what he really meant is, it’s everything!”
Jennifer was set to host the Saturday Night Live season finale on May 20th. That’s been canceled due to the strike as well. SNL is pretty good about rebooking cancelled guests when things like this happen. I assume she’ll open the next season, maybe with Kieran Culkin who was also supposed to host one of the cancelled shows.
Public shows of support like Jennifer’s are very important. Not only for morale but for the influence. Someone with Jennifer’s platform mentioning the strike shines a light on their demands and it matters. It’s probably better not to cancel things like the MTV Awards so folks can see what they’ll be getting if we don’t have quality writers. All the big guilds like SAG, DGA, and PGA are supporting WGA. Their captains sat at the table with them against AMPTP. Michael J Fox postponed his film’s premiere. Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallonand others have joined the picket lines. We want this strike to end quickly so we can have a good fall lineup. But there are people on that line who hope it ends soon because they can’t afford a proper meal. So let’s hope efforts like Jennifer’s go a long way to getting AMPTP to meet WGA’s demands.
And bless people like Padma Lakshmi and Pete Davidson for feeding the picketers until AMPTP comes around.
Thank YOU, @JENCOOLIDGE 🫶🍿🏆 Welcome to the Comedic Genius Award Club! #MTVAwards pic.twitter.com/CLH78d1bP3
— Movie & TV Awards (@MTVAwards) May 8, 2023
Photo credit: Cover Images and via Instagram and Twitter
Almost like a movie, it feels like this is becoming a David vs. Goliath story. And while I hope for a Hollywood ending (and support now in week 2 seems strong… what about week 12?)… the world seems stacked against David in a lot of ways.
I am so sick of stories about all these corporations bragging about record profits but not paying the people that actually got them there. This strike is a microcosm of what’s going on across the U.S. 1. Taking advantage of workers (forcing them to do work for free). 2. Threatening to replace them with technology/AI. 3. Using the technology excuse to pay people less. Undervaluing effort and work. How hard is it to pay people what they’re worth? Why is it such an issue to share profits? Oh because we’ve created a machine that insists on creating value for investors and stockholders.
This shows why we need unions! I hope it inspires more Americans to unionize and the value of it is (unions aren’t perfect, but it’s still better than not having one.)
Sorry… I need to go back to reading lighter gossip.
Last writer’s strike, when they all fired their agents, lasted 20 months. One interesting thing I’m seeing on Twitter is the idea that the film studios could quickly agree to the writer’s terms, as they are closer to current business practices. That would allow theatrical releases to be basically unaffected, while the streamers wouldn’t have new content. They are all so anti-worker, so it probably won’t happen, even though it makes sense strategically. During previous strikes, there have been individual producers and companies who have signed deals and kept working.
Jennifer seems like a doll & I love her support for the WGA. I *really* hope the AMPTP comes to their senses soon. There’s no content without writers.
The whole AI thing is honestly nonsense driven by Silicon Valley bosses panicking over business models that were never designed to survive regulation & lack of access to cheap capital. And there are myriad IP issues with AI generated content that studios are ignoring while hoping bots can be strikebreakers.
@Hecate Thank you for supporting writers and for amplifying the message. It matters, and it helps.
Jennifer is a national treasure. Just love her.
Without writers we have nothing. Pay them!