MTV Movie & TV Awards 2023 WINNERS: Jennifer Coolidge declares: ‘I stand side-by-side with the WGA!’

Jennifer Coolidge showed her support for the Writers Guild of America amid the ongoing writers strike while accepting the Comedic Genius award in a clip for the 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards Sunday, while Drew Barrymore dropped out due to the strike and was honored with an award, and The Last of Us came away with three large honors.

Other notable names who emerged victorious on the evening – which drew some criticism from fans amid the pre-recorded broadcast as result of the WGA strike – included Tom Cruise, Jenna Ortega and Taylor Swift.   

‘Almost all great comedy starts with great writers,’ The White Lotus star said in her speech. ‘I just think as a proud member of SAG, I stand here before you tonight side-by-side with my sisters and brothers from the WGA that are fighting right now, fighting for the rights of artists everywhere.’

She added, ‘I think of the words of Shakespeare where he once said, you know, the play is the thing. Well, I don’t want to put words in his mouth or anything but I think what he really meant was it’s everything!’

Coolidge won a second award for Most Frightened Performance for The White Lotus at the event. She prevailed in the category against Cocaine Bear’s Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Barbarian’s Justin Long, Bodies Bodies Bodies star Rachel Sennott and Smile’s Sosie Bacon.

Solidarity: Jennifer Coolidge showed her support for the Writers Guild of America Sunday while accepting the Comedic Genius award at the 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards 

Drew Barrymore was slated to host, but backed out due to the WGA strike. Despite her absence, the Hollywood stalwart was also named the Best Host for The Drew Barrymore Show 

‘My gosh, popcorn,’ she said. ‘Thank you. Oh, my go. Most frightening death. Thank you. I hope this is the last time that I ever die on a show. I would like to stay alive.’

The Last Of Us star Pedro Pascal won the honor for Best Hero to kick off the award announcements on Sunday, as the show also garnered the honors for Best Show and Best Duo for Pascal and Bella Ramsey. 

Pascal prevailed over a field including Andor’s Diego Luna, Wednesday’s Jenna Ortega, Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania’s Paul Rudd and Top Gun: Maverick’s Tom Cruise for the honors. 

‘I want to say thank you, MTV Movie and TV awards,’ Pascal said in his acceptance speech. ‘I am a child of MTV. This means the absolute world to me. The people at MTV told me that 77.5 million people voted this year. Which blows my mind and just makes it such an honor.’

He continued, ‘I wish we could all be together so that I can look into your eyes and tell you that all young people in the world are my heroes and I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you. I want to say that you deserve a world that serves your interests.

‘You deserve to be healthy. You deserve to be safe. You deserve for your individual rights to be fought for and protected. You deserve real heroes in this world because you are real heroes to me. And I love you. Thank you. Thank you.’

With writers on strike and picketing studios, host Drew Barrymore announced she was dropping out last Sunday.

The 48-year-old actress-turned-talk show host had been set to MC the festivities, but she put her clout behind writers struggling to earn better pay and guarantees on staffing, as studios increasingly try to limit the size of writers’ rooms and shrink the number of episodes per series.  

‘I have listened to the writers, and in order to truly respect them, I will pivot from hosting the MTV Movie & TV Awards live in solidarity with the strike,’ Barrymore told Variety. ‘Everything we celebrate and honor about movies and television is born out of their creation.’

The White Lotus star said in her speech: ‘Almost all great comedy starts with great writers’

The American Pie alum paid tribute to her writing peers in accepting the Comedic Genius honors

Coolidge won a second award for Most Frightened Performance for The White Lotus at the event

She said, ‘My gosh, popcorn. Thank you. Oh, my go. Most frightening death. Thank you. I hope this is the last time that I ever die on a show. I would like to stay alive’

The beloved actress was one of the shining stars of the evening for the pre-taped program 

The actress, who portrayed Tanya McQuoid on the popular HBO drama, had a casual demeanor as she accepted the second set of honors on the evening

Barrymore said as she was accepting the honors, ‘Hello, hello. Thank you so much. I can’t believe this. Thank you for letting me in. Get eyeball to eyeball. Thank you for this whole show. This whole world being – thank you. Thank you so much’

Barrymore said she was dedicating the award to her writing staff on the series 

Barrymore added that she’ll be watching the show from home, and she stills plans to return as host next year. 

Despite her absence, the Hollywood stalwart was also named the Best Host for The Drew Barrymore Show. 

Barrymore said as she was accepting the honors, ‘Hello, hello. Thank you so much. I can’t believe this. Thank you for letting me in. Get eyeball to eyeball. Thank you for this whole show. This whole world being – thank you. Thank you so much.

She continued: ‘Oh, my goodness. Okay. Also I want to thank Chelsey, Christina, Liz, our amazing, amazing writers. Her this is definitely for them and every single person who makes the show. There is no I in my.’

Tom Cruise was named the winner for Best Performance in a Movie for Top Gun: Maverick, besting fellow nominees Austin Butler (Elvis), Florence Pugh (Don’t Worry Darling), KeKe Palmer (Nope) and Michael B. Jordan (Creed III). 

Cruise showed off his trademark showmanship as he delivered his acceptance speech from the air in a jet.

‘Hi, everyone, thank you so much for this award,’ the perennial A-lister said. ‘I make these films for you. I love you. I love entertaining you. How much you enjoy it, how much you appreciate it. There is no better feeling and I hope you enjoy this.

‘Dead Reckoning coming out in July. It’s a wild ride. Have a wonderful summer. Thank you again for letting me entertain you. It’s an absolute privilege. We’ll see you at the movies.’

The Last Of Us star Pedro Pascal won the honor for Best Hero at the 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards Sunday 

The beloved leading man praised young people in his speech, saying, ‘You deserve real heroes in this world because you are real heroes to me’

Pascal and Bella Ramsey also won the honors for Best Duo for The Last Of Us 

The actor, who plays the role of Joel on the video game adaptation, had his hands full with three trophies as the HBO series garnered the honors for Best Show

Scream VI was named the Best Movie of the year, edging out a field that included Avatar: The Way of Water, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Elvis, Nope, Smile and Top Gun: Maverick. 

Wednesday’s Jenna Ortega was named the winner of Best Performance in a Show, besting a loaded category that consisted of Aubrey Plaza (The White Lotus), Christina Ricci (Yellowjackets), Riley Keough (Daisy Jones & The Six), Sadie Sink (Stranger Things) and Selena Gomez (Only Murders in the Building). 

The Kardashians were named Best Docu-reality Series over Jersey Shore Family Vacation, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Family Reunion: Love & Hip Hop Edition and Vanderpump Rules. 

In the category of Breakthrough Performance, Stranger Things star Joseph Quinn was crowned with the honor over fellow nominees Bad Bunny (Bullet Train), Bella Ramsey (The Last Of Us), Emma D’Arcy (House of the Dragon), and Rachel Sennott (Bodies Bodies Bodies). 

Vanderpump Rules quartet Ariana Madix, Katie Maloney, Scheana Shay and LaLa Kent was named Best Reality On-Screen Team, besting stars from shows such as Jersey Shore Family Vacation, The Challenge: Ride or Dies, RuPaul’s Drag Race and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

Adam Sandler took home the prize for Best Comedic Performance, besting fellow nominees Coolidge (Shotgun Wedding), Dylan O’Brien (Not Okay), KeKe Palmer (Nope) and Quinta Brunson (Abbott Elementary).

In the category for Best Fight, the Scream VI conflict between Ghostface and Courteney Cox (as Gale Weathers) prevailed of the nominees.

RuPaul’s Drag Race: All-Stars was crowned the Best Competition Series, besting competitors including All-Star Shore, Big Brother, The Challenge: USA and The Traitors.

Outer Banks stars Madison Bailey and Rudy Pankow were crowned winners in the Best Kiss category, defeating competitors such as The Last Of Us’ Anna Torv and Philip Prajoux, My Policeman’s Harry Styles and David Dawson, Daisy Jones & The Six’s Riley Keough and Sam Claflin and Only Murders in the Building’s Selena Gomez and Cara Delevingne. 

Cast members of RuPaul’s Drag Race: All-Stars celebrated after the series was crowned the Best Competition Series, besting competitors including All-Star Shore, Big Brother, The Challenge: USA and The Traitors 

Cruise was named the winner for Best Performance in a Movie for Top Gun: Maverick

Cruise’s trademark showmanship was on display as he delivered his acceptance speech from the air in a jet

The perennial A-lister made an impression as he flew the friendly skies during his one-of-a-kind acceptance speech 

Cruise, who is known for doing his own stunts, initially began developing his passion for flying during the production of his 1986 blockbuster Top Gun.

Top Gun: Maverick hit theaters in May of last year and garnered $1.49 billion including $718 million in domestic revenues

The 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards aired Sunday in a pre-taped broadcast amid the commencement of the WGA writers’ strike earlier this week.  

The long-running awards show was one of the first victims of the ongoing dispute between the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the Writers Guild of America union.

Officials from the Writers Guild had pledged to picket at the event in Southern California – which will would have put celebrities in the awkward position of crossing the line – until MTV scuttled the live event Saturday evening.

MTV executive producer Bruce Gillmer said in a statement, ‘We’re pivoting away from a live event,’ according to the AP.

Gillmer said that the pre-taped format enables the network ‘to produce a memorable night full of exclusive sneak peaks, irreverent categories our audience has come to expect, and countless moments that will both surprise and delight.’

As in previous years, the show will feature gender-neutral award categories. 

The show, which had previously been split over two days for scripted and unscripted content, had been condensed back into a single evening this year. 

Some fans were up in arms as the network aired a stripped-down version of its usual ceremony featuring little more than clip packages, a few pre-recorded sketches and a small number of stars accepting awards virtually.

Jenna Ortega of the series Wednesday was named as the winner for Best Performance in a Show 

Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me was named Best Music Documentary on the award show broadcast 

In the category for Best Fight, the Scream VI conflict between Ghostface and Courteney Cox (as Gale Weathers) prevailed of the nominees; the horror villain accepted the honors in a pre-taped speech 

Sofia Carson’s Come Back Home was named the Best Musical Moment for the film Purple Hearts 

In the category of Breakthrough Performance, Stranger Things star Joseph Quinn was crowned with the honor

Fans were up in arms after the 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards went on on Sunday despite not having a host, writers or in-person guests due to the ongoing WGA strike

Many viewers on social media thought the show was little more than shell of its former self after it was swept up in ongoing contract disputes between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents film and TV production companies.

The most significant blow was Barrymore’s decision to drop out as host in solidarity with writers after the strike began on Monday. Although she didn’t not cross a picket line to appear in person, she was featured in several pre-taped sketches and commercials.

Film and television writers are on strike over complaints that studios have underpaid them for years, particularly when it comes to streaming programs that offer almost no residuals over time. 

They are also fighting back against studios’ attempts to shrink writers’s rooms, to shorten the number of episodes of television seasons and to leave open the possibility of replacing human writers with so-called ‘AI’ programs.

‘Worst award show ever,’ wrote one person who reposted a funny video of a woman freaking out.

‘This has to be a joke. I do not believe this is happening. I’m literally about to f***ing kill myself and I’m not kidding,’ screamed the woman in the video, which has become a popular meme. ‘You better f***ing fix this s*** right now! I literally am gonna die, I need an ambulance.’

Some people appeared to have not been paying attention to the battle between writers and studio bosses, as it has so far only impacted a few live shows.

‘Is this not a typical mtv movie awards lmao? I’m so lost,’ wrote one confused person who included a photo of a woman grimacing. 

Not a fan: ‘Worst award show ever,’ wrote one person who reposted a funny video of a woman freaking out

What gives? Some people appeared to have not been paying attention to the battle between writers and studio bosses, as it has so far only impacted a few live shows

 Some users couldn’t believe that MTV would move forward on a show that no longer had a host

Barrymore appeared in a few disjointed videos, but many of them referenced her hosting the live show, which no longer made sense in context

Pre-taped: ‘Drew Barrymore didn’t host the #MTVAwards but they are still playing her clips,’ wrote one viewer

For one Twitter user, the broadcast brought back back memories of the height of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic

Some users couldn’t believe that MTV would move forward on a show that no longer had a host. 

Barrymore appeared in a few disjointed videos, but many of them referenced her hosting the live show, which no longer made sense in context. 

‘Drew Barrymore didn’t host the #MTVAwards but they are still playing her clips,’ wrote one viewer. 

For one Twitter user, the broadcast brought back back memories of the height of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, when most television productions had to resort to virtual appearances to keep performers safe.

‘Bruh watching the #MTVMovieandTVAwards and thanks to the Writers Strike goin on, watching it like this feels like we’re in Covid era all over again,’ tweeted one viewer.

Another user agreed, writing, ‘I thought awards shows were weird in 2020 with the lockdown and everyone doing them on zoom but this is definitely weird.’ 

Others pointed out the drastic changes in tone the broadcast suffered from due to its new format.

‘We went from Pedro [Pascal] give a heartwarming speech in his backyard to Tom Crusie in a f***ing plane [sic],’ pointed out one person who included a screenshot of Cruise in his aircraft with his golden popcorn sitting behind him in the cockpit.