American actress Jennifer Coolidge has voiced her support for the striking writers currently participating in the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike.
While accepting the award for Comedic Genius at the MTV Movie and TV Awards 2023, The White Lotus‘ Coolidge – who wasn’t physically present at the ceremony – said in a video speech: “Almost all great comedy starts with great writers. I just think that as a proud member of SAG, I stand here before you tonight side by side with my sisters and brothers from the WGA that are fighting right now — fighting for the rights of artists everywhere.”
“I think of the words of Shakespeare where he once said, ‘The play is the thing.’ Well, I don’t wanna put words in his mouth or anything but I think what he really meant was — It’s everything,” Coolidge added.
Thank YOU, @JENCOOLIDGE 🫶🍿🏆 Welcome to the Comedic Genius Award Club! #MTVAwards pic.twitter.com/CLH78d1bP3
— Movie & TV Awards (@MTVAwards) May 8, 2023
Elsewhere in her speech, Coolidge also gave a shout out to the award’s past recipients such as Melissa McCarthy, Will Ferrell, Sacha Baron Cohen, Kevin Hart and Jack Black.
Coolidge’s show of support for the ongoing WGA strike comes just days after it was announced that she had originally been planned to host the season finale of Saturday Night Live with musical guests Foo Fighters later this month. That show has since been scrapped due to the strike, with NBC confirming that SNL will air past episodes until further notice.
Last week, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) announced a strike, which took effect on May 2, following weeks of failed negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). Following the confirmation of the strike – Hollywood’s first in 15 years – WGA uploaded a document outlining the differences between proposals made by the writers’ union and offers from the AMPTP that have led to the strike.
As a result of the strike, talk shows such as The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night with Seth Meyers have gone dark, and are currently airing past episodes. Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers have since stepped up to personally pay their staff salaries for the third week of the strike.
