Drew Barrymore is speaking out after facing severe backlash for choosing to resume “The Drew Barrymore Show” during the writers and actors strikes.
Barrymore took to Instagram Friday to share an apology video in which she “wanted to own a decision so it wasn’t a PR-protected decision” and take “full responsibility” for her actions.
“I know there’s just nothing I can do that will make this OK for those it is not OK with,” Barrymore said. “I fully accept that, I fully understand that. There are so many reasons why this is so complex, and I just want everyone to know my intentions have never been in a place to upset or hurt anyone. It’s not who I am.
“I’ve been through so many ups and downs in my life, and this is one of them. I deeply apologize to writers. I deeply apologize to unions. I deeply apologize.”
Barrymore took a long pause before continuing. “I don’t exactly know what to say because sometimes when things are so tough, it’s hard to make decisions from that place. So, all I can say is that I wanted to accept responsibility and no, I don’t have a PR machine behind this.
Drew Barrymore speaks out after facing backlash for resuming her talk show during the ongoing strikes by actors and writers. (Getty Images/Drew Barrymore/Instagram)
“My decision to go back to the show, I didn’t want to hide behind people, so I won’t. I won’t polish this with bells and whistles and publicists and corporate rhetoric. I’ll just stand out there and accept and be responsible.”
Barrymore addressed the “huge question on why she’s doing this” in her lengthy apology video.
“Well, I certainly couldn’t have expected this kind of attention, and we aren’t going to break rules and we’ll 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.”
WATCH: Picketers chant for Drew Barrymore to pay her writers outside CBS Broadcast Center
Barrymore shared that since the launch of her talk show during the coronavirus pandemic in September 2020, she wanted to create an outlet for people during “sensitive times.”
“I weighed the scales, and I thought, ‘If we could go on during a global pandemic and everything that the world experienced through 2020, why would this sidelines us?’”
Barrymore signed off her video with, “So, that is my why.”
People picket outside “The Drew Barrymore Show” Sept. 12 in New York City. (Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
The actress and talk show host has been ridiculed for her decision to resume her daytime television show.
Barrymore was dropped as host of the National Book Awards. She was also slammed on social media by those who did not agree with her choice to resume “The Drew Barrymore Show.”
“This is a career-altering decision. You will be remembered as a union buster. As will your guests,” one user wrote.
Another added, “Are you going to walk past your own writers on the picket line? Disappointing.”
One Instagram user complimented Barrymore as a person but disagreed with her decision. “I’m sad about this choice. I hope you change your mind. You are lovely and this choice is not lovely,” the user wrote.
Earlier this week, Barrymore took to Instagram to explain her decision to bow out from hosting the MTV Movie & TV Awards during the first week of the writers strike, saying she “made a choice to walk away from the MTV, film and television awards because I was the host, and it had a direct conflict with what the strike was dealing with, which was studios, streamers, film and television.”
“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.
“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.
Drew Barrymore announced her talk show will resume despite the ongoing writers strike. (Paul Morigi/Getty Images)
“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.”
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The Writers Guild didn’t agree with Barrymore’s assessment that she was in compliance with strike guidelines.
“The Drew Barrymore Show” has been on air since September 2020. (The Drew Barrymore Show/YouTube)
“The @DrewBarrymoreTV Show is a WGA covered, struck show that is planning to return without its writers,” the union wrote on X, formerly Twitter, 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.”
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 Sept. 18 without “literary material.”
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Co-head writer of “The Drew Barrymore Show” Cristina Kinon says writers of the show are not being paid amid its return and the strike. (The Drew Barrymore Show/YouTube)
Cristina Kinon, co-head writer of “The Drew Barrymore Show,” told Fox News Digital that staff writers were not notified 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.”
Drew Barrymore took full “responsibility” for the decision to resume her talk show. (Lloyd Bishop/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)
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“I’m sure it was a really difficult decision for [Barrymore] to make,” Kinon added. “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’s Brie Stimson contributed to this report.
