Peabody Awards canceled due to WGA strike
"Abbott Elementary," "Atlanta" and "Andor" were among the winners set to receive their awards at the upcoming ceremony.
The Peabody Awards are standing with the Writers Guild of America.
The Board of Jurors announced in a press release it would cancel the in-person ceremony, citing its support for their many nominees currently striking for better wages.
The official statement references “ongoing uncertainty and meaningful challenges that exist industrywide” before announcing that they will not move forward with their planned June 11 ceremony.
It reads, “As an organization dedicated to honoring the most compelling and empowering stories in broadcasting, streaming, and digital media, we recognize and respect the position that many of this year’s Peabody Award winners find themselves in.”
The statement calls the cancellation “disappointing,” saying that this year’s honorees are “immensely talented and have brought forth powerful stories that deserve to be celebrated.”
As theGrio previously reported, some of the biggest stories in media were set to be celebrated at this year’s ceremony, including hit shows like “Abbott Elementary” and “Atlanta.” The Disney+ “Star Wars” series “Andor” also was a winner this year, as well as HBO’s “We’re Here,’ which as theGrio reported earlier this week, just took home a GLAAD Award over the weekend.
The current WGA strike is the first in 15 years, as writers across mediums in Hollywood have come together amid ever-changing working conditions due to the streaming era. As TheGrio previously reported, the strike kicked off on Tuesday, May 2 when the union and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) failed to come to an agreement.
Since then, several shows have halted production completely, including “Abbott Elementary,” “Saturday Night Live” and “The Talk.”
The Peabody Awards are not the first industry ceremony forced to pivot in the final hours due to the strike. As theGrio previously reported, the MTV Movie & TV Awards went from a live broadcast to a pre-taped presentation earlier this month, and the Tony Awards just announced the esteemed ceremony for Broadway will move forward with an “unscripted” televised broadcast,” per The Hollywood Reporter.
For more on the Peabody Awards, including the full list of winners, head to the official site here.
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