As the writers' strike gets underway, Jon Stewart and John Mulaney cancel FYC events

The writers' strike hits awards season as two of comedy's biggest stars cancel your consideration

By Matt Schimkowitz  |  May 3, 2023 | 3:45am
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As the writers' strike gets underway, Jon Stewart and John Mulaney cancel FYC events
John Mulaney, Jon Stewart Photo: Bryan Steffy (Getty Images for The Shaquille O’Neal Foundation)

The impact of the writers’ strike upending Hollywood isn’t just putting a pause on production. Promotion is taking a hit as well. In addition to every late-night show not named Gutfeld! going dark, writers’ rooms across tinsel town are closing up shop, with writers dropping their pens, grabbing signs, and refusing to work until they get a fair deal from the likes of Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Warner Bros. Discover, NBC Universal, Paramount, and Sony. Now, the writers’ strike is coming for awards season.

Earlier today, per The Hollywood Reporter, John Mulaney became the “first major talent” to cease asking people to consider his latest Netflix special, Baby J, by canceling scheduled F.Y.C. events. Mr. Mulaney read the WGA’s strike rules, which forbid promotional events. “You should let the Company know you are prohibited from making these promotional appearances about your work until the strike concludes,” reads the WGA’s F.A.Q.

He’s not the only one to sacrifice this year’s Emmys for the picket line. Jon Stewart also canceled an F.Y.C. event for the second season of The Problem With Jon Stewart. According to Deadline, Stewart was scheduled for a conversation about the show next week.

The news of these cancellations comes after the TV Academy offered networks the opportunity to cancel F.Y.C. events for a $5,000 administration fee and a $2,500 penalty fee. Unfortunately, as we all know, because there’s a strike now, the networks just don’t have that kind of money, so it looks like the Jo(h)ns will cost Apple and Netflix $15,000 collectively. And no, there will be no reimbursements, which is a shame. Apple will have to sell about 20 iPhones to make up the difference.

Mulaney and Stewart aren’t the only ones pulling out of promos. As he ramps up advertising of his new show, I’m A Virgo, Boots Riley tweeted over the weekend that he would cease promoting the show as “soon as a #WGAStrike is called.”

“It’s a move showrunners r [sic] making in hopes2make [sic] negotiations go faster,” Riley tweeted. “These kinds of choices are what much of my work for decades, including this show, is about. More importantly, its these kinds of moves that win strikes.”

 
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