The 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards will pivot from a live ceremony to a pre-taped show that will air Sunday.
The show changes announced Friday came hours after the Writers Guild of America said it had planned to picket outside of the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, where the awards had been scheduled to be presented in front of a live audience. The WGA has since canceled its intentions to demonstrate.
“As we carefully navigate how best to deliver the fan first awards’ show we envisioned that our team has worked so hard to create, we’re pivoting away from a live event that still enables us to produce a memorable night full of exclusive sneak peeks, irreverent categories our audience has come to expect and countless moments that will both surprise and delight as we honor the best of film and TV over the past year,” Bruce Gillmer, executive producer of the MTV Movie & TV Awards, said in a statement.
A source told The Hollywood Reporter that there will still be celebrity involvement via pre-taped acceptance speeches.
The ceremony was set to include Drew Barrymore as host, celebrity presenters and an audience. But the 50 First Dates actress announced earlier in the week that she would be dropping out, saying she was doing so in solidarity with the WGA strike. MTV also previously called off the red carpet for the event.
Writers have been on strike across Los Angeles and New York since May 2, after negotiations with studios and streamers collapsed the previous night.
The MTV Movie & TV Awards will still air Sunday at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on MTV with simulcasts on BET, BET Her, Comedy Central, CMT, Logo, MTV2, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network, Pop, TV Land, VH1.
