Barrymore Scrubs Apology From Instagram

UPDATE Sep 16, 2023 7:00 AM CDT

Drew Barrymore's emotional apology video, in which she tried to explain why she'd resumed production on her TV show while writers are on strike, is no more. Variety reports the 48-year-old actor scrubbed her mea culpa just hours after posting it Friday, after backlash from fellow actors, including Debra Messing, Bradley Whitford, and Alyssa Milano. "I love her very much," Milano tells the AP. "But I'm not sure this was the ... right move, for the strike." A media expert tells Yahoo that Barrymore's "privileged position" as Hollywood royalty (her dad is actor John Drew Barrymore; her grandfather is actorJohn Barrymore) made things worse: "Her father, grandfather, and she have been protected by unions, and in large ways their generational wealth has come from the active participation in unions, so I think there is—at least certainly online—a pervading feeling of hypocrisy."

Sep 15, 2023 3:50 PM CDT

After a critical response to her decision that included picketing, Drew Barrymore offered an explanation and an apology on Friday for resuming production of her TV talk show while writers are on strike. "I believe there's nothing I can do or say in this moment to make it OK," she said in a video posted on Instagram. The actress said she takes responsibility for the decision, People reports, adding that she didn't intend to upset or hurt anyone. She pointed out that The Drew Barrymore Show went live during the pandemic and that she again wanted to "make a show that's there for people regardless of anything else that's happening in the world."

The host said her show won't "break rules, and we will be in compliance," though the Writers Guild of America was not pleased with the resumption and picketed outside CBS Broadcast Center in New York, per the Hollywood Reporter. Barrymore said in the video that she didn't expect this much attention. "I deeply apologize to writers. I deeply apologize to unions," she said. She did not say anything about reversing her decision. "This is bigger than me," Barrymore said. "And there are other people's jobs on the line." (More Hollywood writers' strike stories.)