News > Ellen Under Fire By WGA East
November 12, 2007
Written by David Morgan
Comedian and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres has been harshly admonished by the WGA East for returning to work during the writers strike. Though she took off Monday for the first day of the strike, she returned to work on Tuesday, leading the WGAE to write a letter saying "We find it sad that Ellen spent an entire week crying and fighting for a dog that she gave away, yet she couldn't even stand by writers for more than one day -- writers who have helped make her extremely successful." Defenders of Ellen point out that her syndicated show is not the same as The Tonight Show or The Late Show which are owned and controlled by networks. Ellen is carried by local TV stations, and is contractually obligated to deliver shows to these stations.
Meanwhile, producers at The Tonight Show are considering using guest hosts to replace Jay Leno, who refuses to cross picket lines in support of his writers. Executive producer Debbie Vickers told "Our preference is that we return to production of The Tonight Show with Jay as host as soon as possible. We want to protect the staff, who have been loyal to this show for decades, in the same way that Johnny Carson reluctantly returned without his writers in 1988."
