Two audience members at Monday’s taping The Drew Barrymore Show they claimed they were “kicked out” for expressing support for the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike.
The incident came shortly after host Drew Barrymore announced on Sunday that she had decided to continue producing her daytime talk show of the same name amid the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.
IN post shared on X (formerly known as Twitter), Dominic Turiczek shared how he was forced to leave the live taping after producers spotted him and another audience member wearing pins and T-shirts in support of the ongoing Hollywood strikes.
“Went to @DrewBarrymoreTV after winning tickets, unaware of the #WGA strike,” he captioned a photo of himself posing outside the CBS studios. “We took the pins and went in, got kicked out and verbally assaulted by the @DrewBarrymore team. They clearly do not support #WGAStrong, the writers or the fans! #DrewTheRightThing So we grabbed our t-shirts and joined in. P— that.”
Everything you need to know about the Hollywood Writers Guild strike, including the TV shows and movies affected
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Turiczek admitted he “knew about the #WGA strike, just not that they were protesting Drew’s show.”
“We didn’t know until inside that her show had WGA writers, so we crossed the protest lines and started over,” he added. “We got the tickets at the last minute and obviously didn’t do enough research.”
In a statement shared with PEOPLE, a representative for The Drew Barrymore Show acknowledged the incident and expressed “regret” for how the situation was handled.
“It is our policy to welcome everyone to the tapings of our shows,” the spokesperson said. “Due to heightened security concerns today, we regret that two members of the audience were not allowed to attend or were denied access. Drew was not aware of the incident and we are in the process of contacting affected audiences to offer them new tickets.”
Drew Barrymore takes summer ‘social media break’ to ‘go on some adventures’: ‘Healthy for the soul’
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CBS
The 48-year-old actress — who has hosted the daytime show since 2020 — released a statement late last weekend about her decision to bring back her daytime show.
“I decided to walk out of the MTV Movie and TV Awards because I was the host and it was in direct conflict with what the strike was about, which is studios, streamers, film and television,” she wrote on Instagram. .
Barrymore continued: “It was also in the first week of the strike so I did what I thought was appropriate at the time to stand in solidarity with the writers.”
She also made it clear that production on the third season of her talk show ended on April 20, which was before the WGA strike began on May 2.
“I own this choice,” Barrymore added in her statement. “We agree not to discuss or promote film and television that has been attacked in any way.”
Late-night shows shut down as Hollywood writers strike begins after failed negotiations
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‘The Drew Barrymore Show’. Ben Watts/ CBS Ventures “The Drew Barrymore Show”.
The WGA — which represents more than 1,000 writers in television, film, news and online media — is on strike over failed negotiations to secure better pay, increased residuals and restrictions on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the film and television industry.
Like the WGA, after contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) stalled in July, the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) began their own strike.
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The Drew Barrymore Show is scheduled to return on September 18.
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