Drew Barrymore has been dropped because the host of the Nationwide Ebook Awards, the muse that presents the prizes stated Tuesday, after the actress obtained a barrage of criticism for deciding to convey again her daytime discuss present regardless of the strike by tv writers.
The Nationwide Ebook Basis, which presents the awards every year, stated in an announcement that its determination was meant to “be certain that the main target of the awards stays on celebrating writers and books.”
“The Nationwide Ebook Awards is a night devoted to celebrating the facility of literature, and the incomparable contributions of writers to our tradition,” the assertion stated. “In gentle of the announcement that ‘The Drew Barrymore Present’ will resume manufacturing, the Nationwide Ebook Basis has rescinded Ms. Barrymore’s invitation to host the 74th Nationwide Ebook Awards Ceremony.”
On Monday, unionized writers from the Writers Guild of America, in addition to hanging actors, picketed exterior the CBS studios in New York Metropolis the place “The Drew Barrymore Present,” was resuming filming for the primary time since April — with out the present’s three unionized writers.
The community stated that the present could be returning on Sept. 18 with out written materials that’s “coated by the W.G.A. strike,” an identical method to that taken by “The View,” which started airing episodes from its new season this month, circumventing union writers.
Barrymore, who had stepped down because the host of the MTV Film and TV Awards in Might in solidarity with the hanging Hollywood writers, was greeted by a wave of important backlash on-line after the choice to return on air. She defended the present’s return on Instagram, saying in a submit, “I need to be there to offer what writers accomplish that effectively, which is a strategy to convey us collectively or assist us make sense of the human expertise.”
Barrymore’s critics included many high-profile writers, and Colson Whitehead, an creator who gained the Nationwide Ebook Award in 2016, gestured to the potential downside the muse confronted in having the actress as host after her determination.
Representatives for Barrymore and her present didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
The muse’s assertion concluded: “We’re grateful to Ms. Barrymore and her group for his or her understanding on this state of affairs.”
The Nationwide Ebook Awards, one of the prestigious literary awards in the US, has typically introduced in outstanding cultural figures and celebrities to host, in an effort to broaden its profile and to focus on the huge ranging cultural impression of books. Latest hosts embody the creator and TV host Padma Lakshmi, the creator and comic Phoebe Robinson, and actors like LeVar Burton, Nick Offerman and Cynthia Nixon.
When the Nationwide Ebook Basis introduced this summer season that Barrymore would host the awards, they praised her dedication to “the enduring perception that books have the facility to vary readers’ lives.” In her 2015 memoir, “Wildflower,” Barrymore credited books with restoring her sense of self after her tumultuous childhood and coming of age within the highlight, and described how she tore via works by Jane Austen, Tolstoy and Joan Didion.
This yr’s ceremony is scheduled to happen at Cipriani Wall Road in Manhattan on Nov. 15, which creates a good timeline that’s prone to go away the muse scrambling to search out one other high-profile host.
