Scandal and West Wing actor Josh Malina has no time for scabs, as he recently revealed.
Drew Barrymore made headlines recently when she came under fire for wanting to bring her show back during the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, but not every talk show host has been treated the same.
Actress Whoopi Goldberg and her The View co-hosts have come under fire for the same reason, with many wondering why there isn’t more outrage at them performing on The View.
Josh Malina told Page Six, “I’ve come to the conclusion that Whoopi and the other hosts of The View are indeed scabbing.”
He continued, “Consider: The View has been picketed by the WGA from day one. Also, the show normally employs two members of the union who are now on strike. If you cross a picket line to go do your job, and then do the work of a picketing union member — in this case … even jotting down a question to ask a guest — in my book, that’s being a scab.”
A Writers Guild of America told Page Six they would continue to picket The View and would be outside the show’s NYC studios Thursday and Friday, saying, “The Guild has picketed and will continue to picket struck shows that are in production during the strike.”
The View writers have been on strike since day one
The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has been on strike since May. The current strike is over pay, the size of writing staff on shows, and the use of artificial intelligence in scripts.
The View writers have been striking since day one, with The View co-hosts writing their own note cards ever since.
Then, in July, the actors’ union SAG-AFTRA joined them in their fight and to fight for a share of streaming revenue.
With these strikes, it would make sense for The View to be on hold, showing repeats or not filming new content, but that’s not the case.
Whoopi Goldberg explains why The View is not on strike
As previously reported by Monsters and Critics, Whoopi quickly took to the air in July to explain why the co-hosts on The View would still be airing new episodes and wouldn’t be on strike with the other actors and writers.
“Like the soap operas and game shows and news shows, we work under a different kind of contract which is called the’ network code,’ which means that we are allowed to continue on,” she explained.
“As we’re not actors at the table acting The View, it’s a different kind of context. So that’s why we’re still able to work.”
Different contract or not, most union protestors are not on the same page and believe that The View is definitely scabbing right now.
The View airs weekdays at 11/10c on ABC.