The show didn’t go on — as planned — for Dermot Mulroney when he walked off the set of “The View” to support the ongoing Hollywood writers strike.
The “My Best Friend’s Wedding” actor said an abrupt goodbye to co-hosts Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin, Sara Haines, Ana Navarro and Alyssa Farrah Griffin on Friday’s episode, which was taped on Thursday. Beforehand, he explained that he was going to “symbolically walk off in support of the writers” as he left the stage toward the end of his promotional interview for his Disney+ series “Secret Invasion.”
Mulroney, 59, said: “Are we going to break? I want to do this symbolically. In support and solidarity for the writers, I’m going to walk off your show. Thank you, I’ll see you on the picket lines.”
“Love you, thank you,” he turned and waved as he left the stage. Some of the co-hosts clapped alongside the audience as he exited stage left.
Behar, 80, continued to promote Mulroney’s Marvel series as she went to commercial break. Disney is the parent company of ABC, which has produced the Barbara Walters-created talk show since 1997.
“The View” has been “unscripted” since the Writers Guild of America launched the labor stoppage on May 2.
More than 11,000 members of the union are striking against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers – which represents major Hollywood studios like Disney, NBC Universal and Sony Pictures.
Negotiations between both entities were ongoing for weeks — with writer wages for streaming shows at the center of the discussions — before the severe labor action.
Production of late night shows and televised award ceremonies have since been upended.
On a near Us.Mistertruth basis, co-host and moderator Whoopi Goldberg has made mention of the strike, explaining to viewers that she and her co-hosts rely on hand-written notes on cards in lieu of using copy from WGA writers.
“This is the 51st day with no writers so everything is still discombobulated trying to figure [out] where things are,” the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award winner said during Thursday’s live broadcast. “They need to solve it because writers need to go back to work… so we always have our fingers crossed that everybody will get what they need so we can go back to kinda normal.”