“NBC” held off as long as they could but finally handed out 80 pink slips to “The Tonight Show” non writing staff members. The writers walked out on November 5, leaving 80 non union employees hanging in the balance when the show went dark.
The network had planned to lay off all of their non union staff two weeks into the strike but held off another two weeks before lowering the boom. Leno, whose show has remained dark since the walkout, has picked up the tab and will pay the wages of the 80 staff members affected by the strike. Conan O’Brien is now covering his 50 affected staff members from NBC’s “Late Night with Conan O’Brien”. David Letterman’s “World Wide Pants” production company will also bankroll the affected non writing staff on ABC’s “Late Show” and “Late Late Show” through December.
We know these comedians pull down large sums of money for making us laugh each evening. It still feels good to know that they care enough about their staffs that they’ll dig into their deep pockets to keep their working partners afloat through the holidays. Nicely done – gentlemen.
Check out which celebrities have turned out in support of the writers as seen in pictures and video below. Click on each thumbnail photo for a better view.
We’ve also got a video of Ray Romano, Patricia Heaton and Phil Rosenthal coming out in support of WGA. Check it out on the next page.