MTV Awards Awkwardly Limp Forward With Writers on Strike

Tonight’s MTV Movie & TV Awards marked the first major awards show since members of the Writers Guild of America went on strike last Tuesday. Following Drew Barrymore’s decision to drop out as host, Paramount announced that it would pivot from a live ceremony to a pre-taped special, resulting in a nearly starless, flashback-filled broadcast.

Leading up to the show—which was set to take place at Los Angeles’ Barker Hangar—celebrity presenters like Jamie Lee Curtis and Vanderpump Rules’ Lala Kent announced that they would not attend, in solidarity with film and television writers currently on strike for better wages. Deadline also reported that a large portion of the evening’s scheduled talent—which included Gal Gadot, Tiffany Haddish, and the cast of Daisy Jones & The Six—had pulled out of the event.

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The evening wasn’t totally lacking in star power, though. Several celebrities, like Tom Cruise and The Last of Us breakout actress Bella Ramsey, accepted their awards via video. Other golden popcorn recipients, like Jennifer Coolidge and Pedro Pascal, acknowledged the strike in their recorded acceptance speeches.

“Almost all great comedy starts with great writers,” Coolidge said while accepting this year’s Comedic Genius Award. “And 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. They’re fighting right now, fighting for the rights of writers everywhere.”

Stranger Things actor Joseph Quinn also gave a shout-out to writers when he won Best Breakout Performance. “I don’t think that people would connect with a character like Eddie or others in the Stranger Things universe without compassionate, intelligent, and quality writing,” the British actor said. “Being a writer is a hard job, and it deserves respect.”

While accepting Best Show for HBO’s The Last Of Us, Pascal said he and the show’s creators were “standing in solidarity with the WGA that is fighting very hard for fair wages.” And several drag performers representing RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, which won Best Competition Series, stated that they “stand with the writers in their strike.”

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The rest of the MTV telecast was essentially a two-hour-long clip package with a few pre-recorded sketches starring Barrymore. In the opening skit, the talk show host appeared in several of the Best Movie and Show nominees as her Never Been Kissed character Josie Geller, searching for a smooch. In another, taking cues from the Netflix show Wednesday, she recreated her viral “dancing in the rain” video. She also CGI’d herself into the latest Barbie trailer.

Most of the show included lengthy flashbacks and montages of prior ceremonies, plus exclusive clips from upcoming films like The Little Mermaid and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts and a sneak preview of the next episode of Showtime’s Yellowjackets. And as if the vibe of the whole show wasn’t eerie enough, the night ended with Ghostface accepting Best Movie on behalf of Scream VI. Scary, indeed.