WGA Will Not Picket Tony Awards After Promised Alterations

Tony Awards: Act One, One Hour Of Exclusive Content Streaming Live Only On Paramount+, Hosted By Darren Criss & Julianne Hough

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The Writers Guild Of America has issued a late statement saying that the Union will not picket this year's Tony Awards, meaning a path has been cleared to move forward with the June 11th Ceremony. The statement came after promised alterations would "conformed with specific requests from the WGA". While we don't know what the specific requests were, the Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing have not put out their own statement with how this effects moving forward with the June 11th broadcast.

The full WGA statement reads:

As has been previously reported, the Writers Guilds of America East and West (WGA) will not negotiate an interim agreement or a waiver for the Tony Awards. However, Tony Awards Productions (a joint venture of the Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing) has communicated with us that they are altering this year's show to conform with specific requests from the WGA, and therefore the WGA will not be picketing the show. Responsibility for having to make changes to the format of the 2023 Tony Awards rests squarely on the shoulders of Paramount/CBS and their allies. They continue to refuse to negotiate a fair contract for the writers represented by the WGA. As they have stood by us, we stand with our fellow workers on Broadway who are impacted by our strike.

While this does clear a hurdle for The Tony Awards to move forward, both producing parties have yet to provide any details on what the Tony Awards would look like moving forward. The move by the WGA does not ensure that those that would normally participate in the award show will agree to take part in the June 11th broadcast. This is an ongoing story that we will continue to monitor.