In what appears As another effect of the ongoing strike by members of the Writers Guild of America, the 2023 Peabody Awards ceremony has been cancelled.
In a statement Monday afternoon, the Peabody Awards organization said the cancellation comes as a result of the “continued uncertainty and significant challenges that exist across the industry.” The group also acknowledged “the position” that many of the 2023 nominees “find themselves in,” though it didn’t actually refer directly to the strike itself.
“As an organization dedicated to honoring the most compelling and empowering stories in streaming and broadcast media, we recognize and respect the position in which many of this year’s Peabody Award winners find themselves. Due to the ongoing uncertainty and significant challenges that exist throughout the industry, they have decided to cancel the 83rd annual Peabody Awards ceremony that was scheduled to take place on June 11 in Los Angeles. Canceling the ceremony is extremely disappointing as this year’s 39 winners are immensely talented and have come up with powerful stories that deserve to be celebrated,” the organization said.
It’s just the latest major industry event to be affected. A little over a week ago, the 2023 MTV Movies & TV Awards ceremony was canceled after host Drew Barrymore walked out in support of the strike. Last week, the Critics’ Choice Association postponed a planned celebration of LGBTQ+ movies and television that it had planned to hold earlier in the summer. And that’s on top of the myriad of TV shows and movie shoots that have halted production.
The WGA strike, which began on May 2, is taking place during the start of what is normally the television industry’s run-up to the Emmy Awards. It remains to be seen how (or if) that ceremony will be affected. For now, it is still scheduled to air on September 18. In fact, that may be a safe bet on the part of the Television Academy. The 2007-2008 strike lasted just over three months (November 5 to February 12), and the 2023 Emmys are still 4 months away.
Complicating matters is that both the Director’s Guild of America (DGA) and the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) have contracts with the studios that expire on June 30. DGA began formal negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) on May 10, while SAG-AFTRA begins talks on June 7.
There is no way of knowing if these two powerful unions will join the WGA in the strike, but both groups have shown solidarity with the striking writers. SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher marched with writers earlier this month, and Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the guild’s national executive director, said last week that “actors face the same problem” that writers writers are on strike.
And on May 3, the second day of the strike, members of DGA and SAG-AFTRA joined members of IATSE and two other industry unions in a massive event in solidarity with the writers.