Calling striking Fashion Police scribes “schmuck writers” and “idiots”, Joan Rivers is back in hot water with the Writers Guild of America East. “Her latest statement egregiously violates the spirit of the rest of the settlement,” said Michael Winship, President of the WGA East today (see his full statement below). “We are exploring all options.” Rivers made the comments in an interview last week with comedy site, Splitsider. In contrast to her pro-guild stance of just over a month ago after the comedian and long time Guild member avoided an October 14 disciplinary hearing in NYC to determine whether the E! host had violated the union’s rules by writing and performing showrunner duties for the show during the strike, Rivers now appears to have changed sides. “E! is right. They wanted writers to take a vote before they went out and decided to strike and the WGA wanted them to negotiate to not take a vote,” she said in the online interview.
Fashion Police writers have been on strike since April seeking more than $1 million in back wages and overtime. They are backed by the WGA in their fight. After risking being possibly being kicked out of the WGA East, Rivers’ took a very different tone on the writers’ situation last month. “As part of the resolution of the Charges, Ms. Rivers has agreed not to write during the strike and to meet with E! to advocate for immediate contract negotiations in support of the Fashion Police writers,” said the Guild and Rivers in a joint statement on October 7 canceling the disciplinary hearing. No such negotiations have occurred and now the ball is back in the WGA East’s court.
In the meantime, here’s Winship’s statement in full:
Recent Comments
The Writers Guild of America, East, has been made aware of Ms. Joan River’s recent derisive and crude comments about the hardworking and mistreated writers of Fashion Police, who have been on strike for months trying to gain union representation and the redress of terrible wages and working conditions. What she has said is not only reprehensible but flies in the face of a settlement with the WGAE to which she agreed. How dare she at first proclaim solidarity with fellow writers and then so crassly stab them in the back? She should be ashamed of herself, although it is clear that the concept of shame does not trouble what little conscience she has. Because the strike continues, she must continue to refuse to write, but her latest statement egregiously violates the spirit of the rest of the settlement. We are exploring all options.
Oh leave her the fuck alone. Go pick on someone your own size.
Good for joan rivers.
I applaud her :)
what exactly are you applauding? Insulting her staff in an interview? fighting against her own union? refusing to pay her employees union wages? what?
and “truth” — how in the world is this the WGA “sticking its nose in where it doesn’t belong?” Its sticking its nose in a union dispute?
Who are you morons?
Agreed – f*#k the poor schmuck writers but moreover the WGA – they are idiots once again sticking their noses in where they don’t belong and trying to get some PR for their cause. If the writers don’t want to write, don’t write. They don’t have it so bad – I’m sure we can all point out examples of people who actually have it bad. Everyone is replaceable. Life goes on. Tired of hearing about this.
I’m a WGA member who is embarrassed by the moronic fights my guild continues to pick, probably to distract its members from the WGA’s abject failure to win (or even join the battle) on the fights worth having–over late pay, free rewrites, regressive contracts with the producers, worsening guild health care, outrageously generous WGA exec pay and perks, etc etc etc. Enough!
Exactly. I hope the WGA brings some attention to any or all of these things.
I must say some of the other comments are disturbing to me. Calling them “writer schmucks” can’t be good for negotiations or for her viewer relations. I wonder what she thinks of her fans. Ooops, got it…schmucks. Joan, I know you think it’s part of your shtick, but it can be hurtful and it’s certainly not becoming.
Never watched Fashion Police until accidentally catching an ep recently that my kids were watching. It was sharp and funny, Joan Rivers especially (and I’m not usually a fan of hers). If this is the level of writing they’re getting without the WGA’s blessing… well then hey, if it ain’t broke….
IT’S BROKE!
This must have hit a nerve. The previous three posters are seriously unwell.
Joan can dish it , but she can’t take it . Hilariously, she never responded to Jennifer Lawrence’s attack on her precious Fashion Police show , this past weekend on her show . It is because Rivers received many vicious attacks on her twitter account , after she called Lawrence arrogant . Joan is scared of Jennifer’s fans .
It’s pretty clear that team Jennifer Lawrence is looking for all the publicity possible as Hunger Games sets to open. If she had ever watched the show she would see that Joan is just using fashion police as way to deliver her standup….and she is very, very funny. And the target/punchline is not curvy women, unless she is a Kardashian.(In fact, last week, she demonstrated how to eat a sandwich for the benefit of Nicole Richie). Since Lawrence is fishing for attention, Joan, being the smartie that she is, is choosing to ignore her. Also in Joan’s defense, she has shown a deep concern for the well being of young women by relentlesslly shining light on how awful Chris Brown is, often begging Rihanna to move on.
Do you people even realize it’s the writers that make the show. Sorry people but on every show it’s not the actors that pull the funny lines and story out of their ass! If the writers suck the show sucks period. Joan just reads the shit off the screen the writers wrote. You all are idiots
Amen! I’m baffled by all the hate going toward the writers. I think most people believe all writers are rich. They’re not. A lot of jobs are blue collar wages and this non-union, unregulated hours type of show can lead to an abuse of power over them and often does.
So then the WRITERS wrote “schmuck writers” and “idiots”? I’m confused…
I’m all for unions, they’ve done some amazing things for workers, but honestly, “horrible wages” do they make minimum wage like the better part of the country? No, they make well above it. And “working conditions” ? Did their AC in their office stop working or did their bosses decide not to pay for donuts in the break room? C’mon now, there are much worse things to do for a living & much worse places to work.. So Joan decided to continue to write, so what? She wants to continue making money. I don’t think it’s that serious….
No, the AC didn’t break — one of the writers needs a hip replacement but can’t afford it (or insurance) … The bottom lineis, they just want to be compensated with a salary commiserate to the amount of $$$ E! is making off their backs.
Did E! promise the writers profit participation? Did E! originally offer health insurance and other benefits when the writers were offered their job? Did E! reduce the pay that the writers were originally making at any point? If no, then I’m unclear on what the writers are protesting. If the compensation package wasn’t satisfactory, and/or if benefits were something that they needed, then they shouldn’t have taken the job. I’ve turned down jobs because they didn’t pay enough… that’s life. It seems like everyone was very upfront on what the compensation would be, so it seems unreasonable that suddenly the writers are demanding something more. It’s their right to do that, granted… but if someone else steps in to do their job, they have nothing to complain about.
What Rob B said. Because he’s right.
As for the rest of you:
“They don’t have it so bad – I’m sure we can all point out examples of people who actually have it bad. Everyone is replaceable. Life goes on. Tired of hearing about this.”
It’s kind of embarrassing that you don’t see a problem with the “everyone is replaceable” concept that corporations are using to bully workers and keep them in line. Do you really feel as though you are totally replaceable, Truth? If so, you might be sorta bad at your job. These writers want to be fairly compensated for all the money they make for Rivers and the network. And they currently are not. “Everyone is replaceable” is something a replaceable person would say.
“I’m all for unions, they’ve done some amazing things for workers, but honestly, “horrible wages” do they make minimum wage like the better part of the country?”
Oh, cool. So since they don’t have the worst possible job in the country they don’t have any reason to complain. Since they’re making more than $7.25 an hour, they should just be happy. Got it.
Also, bonus points for starting a sentence with “I’m all for unions” and then proceeding to completely say the exact opposite with the rest of the sentence. That kind of dissonance and nonexistent self-awareness is impressive. Writing is a skill that takes years to get good at. If everyone could do it, everyone probably would. And I can only assume based on your “minimum wage” argument, you have a minimum wage job, Chelsea. People who are good at their jobs like to be treated and paid fairly.
Everyone is replaceable, and whether you like it or not, will ultimately be replaced by somebody else. We all retire and pass on. Someone else takes our place. It will happen – sooner or later. Even the most brilliant people die. Nothing to do with how we do our job. Get used to it.
As a Guild member, I am totally embarrassed by this union. Run by a bunch of idiots who have no clue.
Would like some whine to go with your grievance, WGA East?
I doubt you are actually a WGA member. I am a member and have been for 22 years and I thank God for the WGA, which has provided me a pension and health plan that I never would’ve had otherwise in a very up and down business. And I’ve earned it, I work my ass off on top of taking the risk that goes with trying to have a career in the entertainment business. A lot of people fail. With risk comes reward. Taking an office job out of college and staying there your whole life is a choice for people and a fine way to earn a living, but if you do the work and take the risks (and have the talent) to pursue your dreams, then there’s a certain compensation that comes with this. A lot of people on these boards seem to have no conception of this. My advice to you people, shut up, you don’t know what you’re talking about.
You are “all for unions” but think it’s just peachy she was a scab during a strike. Yeah, that makes sense. It gets pretty old having people not affected by these issues use your line of reasoning when it comes to the treatment of writers. Because they aren’t working in the coal mines they should never complain, never ask for more, never strike. It’s America and everyone gets opinion but not everyone has one that’s informed.
Guys… It’s a Joan Rivers reality show on E!. Who gives a shit?
Actually, FP is not a “reality” show at all – it’s a talk/variety/comedy show written by writers – simlar to other late-night and/or talk shows like Leno, Kimmel, or Letterman (which are all WGA-covered), no different than staff writers supplying zingers/one-liners for host/guests to deliver on camera. Even though the jokes appear as “improv” to viewers, it all begins on the page – & those writers deserve to get paid. The trouble is that the industry loves to play a misleading game of semantics – calling shows “reality” programming in order to imply that nothing on-air is ever written, when in reality 99% of content on these type of TV shows is written/staged – to avoid producing these type of lucrative shows under a Guild contract and/or paying such invaluable, hard-working writers fair wage and benefits. It all comes down to greed & the bottom line.
Joan is one of the few who still writes her own material in her act. As far as Fashion police, without it’s writers, only Joan would be on the show, it’s she who carries it. These union battles are necessary for the workers rights, anyone in a union also knows, when on strike, NO member crosses picket line. ( doubtful they picket, used for reference.). I can’t tel you how very many times my husbands union had to strike over the last 45 years ( retired now) but even without a check or being able to keep food on table with small kids in house, he NEVER would cross that line, ever. Solidarity mattered, he was crane operator, but if welders or carpenters unions etc were on strike, shoulder to shoulder union brothers and sisters do not cross line. This IS same as rest of us, fat cats lining pockets and middle to low workers going without. Would it be easier to understand for the first few posters to hear ” Occupy writers” stand up against the machine? Come on, we all know writers are the ones who put on what we watch in any medium, we too should get behind them, boycott shows that treat writers like crap. Lowest viewership ends up gone. That’s only voice we outside Hollywood have. Support the writers, the pages do not magically appear, they are peoples ideas and hard work, life’s work. Show respect for them. Joan is brilliant in her act but if member of writers guild, she too should not be writing during this, doubt she’s going without anything compared to the families if the writers.
Joan – These “schmuck writers” and “idiots” worked with you for years, some decades. They struggled with you when you were down and rallied to make “Fashion Police” a success because they believed in you. Your remarks are not painful to the writers, but to anyone who ever wished you success.
To address a few of the previous posts, (1) when Fashion Police expanded from 30 minutes to a full hour our workload doubled but we were not offered a raise. I worked on the show for over 2 years and was never offered a raise. (2) Fashion Police is NOT a reality show, it is a scripted comedy show. (3) EVERY SCRIPTED COMEDY SHOW ON E! HAS A GUILD CONTRACT EXCEPT FASHION POLICE. (4) Although Joan edits and tweeks some jokes, and selects the ones that get in the final script, virtually every word she says is written by us. Lastly, the shrill, desperate tone of the comments posted above by Joan’s creepy, pathetic minions fill me with delight! They know they’re beaten!
screw these uninformed weirdos, posting their negative shit. Every ACTUAL guild member knows the story, and supports you.
keep fighting the good fight.