Sherri Shepherd’s daytime talk show returned for its second season on Monday. In an opening monologue, Shephard explained why her show is able to return amidst the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.
Why is Sherri allowed to return to air?
During Sherri’s second season premiere, the actress — who was a former co-host of The View — talked about her show’s return, saying that their production isn’t crossing a picket line.
She explained why the show is even able to be on the air again.
“This summer you all may have seen your favorite actors and Hollywood stars have been on the picket lines with the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes,” said Shepherd (via Deadline). “There has been so much confusion about who can work and who can’t work. Well, I’m a SAG-AFTRA actress and I actually marched with some of my colleagues while in Los Angeles recently.”
“That’s me with Viola Davis, Niecy Nash,” she said. “But here’s the thing, talk shows in general fall under a different union contract code, so we’re allowed to come back unless you’re a WGA show. The Sherri show is not a WGA show and we have never employed WGA writers, so us coming back to work isn’t crossing the picket line.”
Sherri’s return highlights the difference between her standard talk show and a show like The Drew Barrymore Show, which drew criticism last week when the actress announced it would be returning. That show previously employed WGA writers, leading many to say the show was struck work. Barrymore announced over the weekend that the show would not return as a result.
Shepherd went on to talk about the strikes itself. She issued support for the movement, and discussed the importance of issues like residuals and use of AI.
“My heart is breaking for all of the people that can’t work right now and I hope our industry can get this strike resolved soon,” she added. “I stand in solidarity with my union. One of the things that we’re fighting for is better residuals. … residuals during times that I was not working kept the lights on. My residual payments helped me care for Jeffrey when he was born at 25 weeks. So good residual payments are important to actors.”
