Drew Barrymore slammed for now-deleted apology video

Actress and talk show host Drew Barrymore released a now deleted apology video after it was announced that she planned on continuing The Drew Barrymore Show despite ongoing writer strikes.

Earlier this week Barrymore announced on her Instagram in another now-deleted post,that the show would be retuning. "I am also making the choice to come back for the first time in this strike for our show, that may have my name on it but this is bigger than just me," she wrote.

Her announcement caused a wave of backlash, with WGA spokesman Jason Gordon telling Vanity Fair: "The Drew Barrymore Show is a WGA-covered struck television show. It has stayed off the air since the strike began on May 2, but now has (unfortunately) decided to return without its writers."

In attempts to explain her decision Barrymore uploaded a four-minute video to her Instagram. She started by saying "I believe there's nothing I can do or say in this moment to make it okay," referring to resuming her show during the strike.

"We aren't going to break rules, and we will be in compliance," Barrymore said. "I wanted to do this because as I said, this is bigger than me, there are other people's jobs on the line."

"I've been through so many ups and downs in my life, and this is one of them," an emotional Barrymore says to the camera.

The 48-year-old added, "I deeply apologise to writers, I deeply apologise to unions."

"I wanted to accept responsibility, and no, I don't have a PR machine behind this. My decision to go back to the show - I didn't want to hide behind people, she says about halfway through the video. "I won’t polish this with bells and whistles and publicists and corporate rhetoric. I’ll just stand out there and accept and be responsible.”

The video, however, was not received well.

Many took to calling Barrymore a "scab", a term used to describe someone who works despite a strike, and other stressed not to cross picket lines:

Others couldn't comprehend why she was carrying on with her plans to resume the show, even after acknowledging all the hurt she's caused.

Actor Bradley Whitford, best known for The West Wing, gave a sarcastic response to Barrymore's video saying, "this has been, like, a super tough week for her."

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