Drew Barrymore has dropped out as host of the 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards in a show of support for the striking Hollywood scribes of the Writers Guild of America, adding she’ll instead act as emcee for the awards in 2024.
MTV Movie & TV Awards will still air Sunday night without a host. It’s unclear who else from the announced list of presenters and honorees will still be in attendance. A planned red carpet for the event, along with talent interviews, have 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 to press. “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.”
Barrymore will not be totally absent from the telecast, however, as MTV representatives confirmed that previously taped segments of the show featuring the actress and talk show host will still air as part of the show.
“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, told Variety. “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,” he added. “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.”
The executive said producers are in talks with talent who scheduled to attend and participate in the show to determine if they’ll have to adjust plans further.
Previously announced talent who’d been set to present at the awards show includes Tiffany Haddish, Jamie Lee Curtis, Lil Dicky, Gal Gadot, Rodrigo Santoro and Sarah Michelle Gellar. The roster also features “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” stars Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback; “Yellowjackets” stars Courtney Eaton, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Liv Hewson, Samantha Hanratty, Sophie Nélisse and Sophie Thatcher; and “Joy Ride” stars Ashley Park, Sabrina Wu, Sherry Cola and Stephanie Hsu.
Ayo Edebiri, Havana Rose Liu, Kaia Gerber and Rachel Sennott (“Bottoms”); Camila Morrone, Riley Keough, Sam Claflin and Suki Waterhouse (“Daisy Jones & The Six”); Halle Bailey and Jonah Hauer-King (“The Little Mermaid”) are also currently slated to attend.
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