The strikes of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) have unapologetically taken the reins of current news events. Now, another beloved Hollywood name is making her rounds in the headlines. These protests have been gaining attention ever since May, and seem to have no end in sight. In recent weeks, Drew Barrymore has suddenly attracted the gaze of the public eye with her once-supporting role in the strikes taking a sudden 180.
Barrymore’s backlash started when her talk-show, “The Drew Barrymore Show”, was scheduled to resume airing on September 18th, which would occur without the show’s writers during the WGA strikes. On top of that, viewers sporting WGA pins were removed from her show’s audience. Upon news of the show’s premiere, Barrymore received a large amount of negative feedback and quickly became a widely discussed person of interest on many social media platforms. She even became a trending topic on Twitter, now known as X. Many people responded in anger and disbelief over her decision to continue airing, especially considering her support of the strikes when they first began.
At the beginning of the strikes, Barrymore’s role was obviously supportive. In alliance with the writers, she gave up her hosting position for the MTV Movie and TV Awards after it began airing during the strikes. Now it looks like the roles have been reversed. The National Book Awards invited Barrymore to host their event initially, but has since retracted their offer after news of her talk-show’s continuation spread in the media.
While things seem to be falling apart in terms of Barrymore’s reputation, it looks like the backlash of her actions has efficiently spiked a change of heart in Barrymore. On September 17, she posted an apology for her decisions on her Instagram account and announced that she would pause her show in support of the WGA strikes, but has deleted it since. As of very recent news, 3 of Barrymore’s writers were reported to be not returning on October 4th. People are still questioning her authenticity and “cancelling” her, but others are enlightened by Barrymore’s decisions to apologize initially, and are offering their forgiveness. Will the “cancel culture” of the media claim yet another victim or will Barrymore’s recent decisions be enough redemption?