Drew Barrymore Pulls Out as MTV Movie & TV Awards Host in Support of Writers Strike
In solidarity with the WGA writers strike, Drew Barrymore has pulled out as host of the 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards, opting instead to host in 2024. The May 7 award show will continue as planned but will not have a host.
Per Variety, the producers of the 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards are in a bit of a scramble to figure out who among their previously announced list of presenters and nominees are still willing to partake in light of the strike, which 98 percent of WGA’s members voted to authorize around midnight on Tuesday, May 2. Red carpet interviews leading up to the telecast have also been canceled.
“I have listened to the writers, and in order to truly respect them, I will pivot from hosting the MTV Movie & TV Awards live in solidarity with the strike,” Barrymore said in a statement on Thursday, May 4. “Everything we celebrate and honor about movies and television is born out of their creation. And until a solution is reached, I am choosing to wait but I’ll be watching from home and hope you will join me. I thank MTV, who has truly been some of the best partners I have ever worked with. And I can’t wait to be a part of this next year, when I can truly celebrate everything that MTV has created, which is a show that allows fans to choose who the awards go to and is truly inclusive.”
The live event kicks off at 8/7c on MTV on Sunday, May 7. Barrymore already filmed some videos for the broadcast. Viewers can expect to see those during Sunday’s ceremony.
“Drew, without question, she’s been incredible. It’s hard to imagine that we’ve ever had a better experience with a host,” Bruce Gillmer, the president of music, music talent, programming, and events at Paramount Global, and an executive producer of the MTV Movie & TV Awards, said in a statement. “She’s more of a partner really, she’s in it every day, just super passionate and super engaged and creative. She even bought some of her own team along for the journey. So when this all reared its head, we started to prepare for what could be. She is not surprisingly, standing in solidarity with the writers, which we have full respect for. She has our full support.”
“So she’s not going to be with us live in the house for the show and we will essentially be going hostless,” Gillmer went on to say. “The silver lining in all of this is that we really formed a partnership almost a family-like atmosphere. So we see this as a shift in direction, but also a pause for the initial plan, which we’ve all agreed and she’s accepted to continue as our host in 2024.”
Gillmer said the show intends to make mention of the strike during the show to explain its effect on the event. There will still be a live performance, he added, but it’s not known from whom. And whether or not the night’s honorees will make an appearance. Jennifer Coolidge was set to be given the Comedic Genius Award, but it’s TBD if she will attend. The White Lotus star was also set to host the Saturday Night Live finale on May 20, with Succession‘s Kieran Culkin set to host on May 13. Both of the episodes have been canceled due to the strike.
Gillmer said they “have a plan” to make up for all the last-minute changes. “Since the award show is fan-voted, we want to honor the fans’ participation and also honor the talent that earn these awards,” he said. “So we’ll be giving the awards away. We’re working on a plan on how to do that without the traditional presentation involved, should the talent or some of the talent not show. We’ve got backups to our backups. And we’re planning on keeping as many of the signature elements of the show intact. We will have a live audience and it will still be a live event. Different, with more pre-taped packages and so forth, which are scalable, but it’ll still have that live event feel.”
Tiffany Haddish, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dave Burd (aka “Lil Dicky”), Gal Gadot, Rodrigo Santoro, and Sarah Michelle Gellar were all set to present on Sunday, as were Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts; Yellowjackets‘ Courtney Eaton, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Liv Hewson, Samantha Hanratty, Sophie Nélisse, and Sophie Thatcher; and Joy Ride‘s Ashley Park, Sabrina Wu, Sherry Cola, and Stephanie Hsu.
Bottoms star Ayo Edebiri, Havana Rose Liu, Kaia Gerber, and Rachel Sennott, Daisy Jones & The Six stars Camila Morrone, Riley Keough, Sam Claflin, and Suki Waterhouse, and The Little Mermaid‘s Ariel and Eric, Halle Bailey and Jonah Hauer-King were also slated to make appearances during the show.
“We’re going to be super respectful of the talents’ decisions to either be involved in pre tapes, show up or not show up, whatever they decide,” Gillmer said of their pending participation. “We’ve got backup plans and coverage just in case, so I guess the short answer is, I’m not sure yet… There’s also athletes and celebrity chefs and all kinds of other talent that are not squarely affected. So we’ll be going down that road.” He noted that the show has a “very charismatic” voiceover artist as part of the team as well, who could help keep the energy going.
The telecast will still feature movie previews only viewable through this event and pre-taped acceptance videos “from big talent.” “The short films are incredible,” Gillmer added.
2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards, Sunday, May 7, 8/7c, MTV
