Joan Rivers is experiencing a backlash from the writers of Fashion Police.
The E! network show’s writers are on strike for unpaid wages that amount to around US$15 million collectively.
The 80-year-old comedienne is the subject of a new video which details her lack of support for the people composing scripts and jokes on the programme.
In the clip titled Dear Joan: Can We Talk, nine unhappy workers complain that the star refuses to help out with the labour dispute.
“Actions speak louder than words: If Joan supported the writers this would be over,” Jackie Beat commented in the three minute video.
They shared plans to join the Writers Guild of America West, an organisation which River is a part of.
The WGA reportedly helped to file the case against Rivers and told their 12,000 members not to work on the show until all is settled.
“The fact that she’s not just a star, but she’s a member of the Writers Guild, and she won’t support fellow Writers Guild members is just astonishing,” Ned Rice expressed on screen. “It’s just a basic fairness issue.”
The programme sees Kelly Osbourne, Giuliana Rancic and George Kotsiopoulos as co-hosts.
River’s 45-year-old daughter Melissa Rivers serves as a producer on the celebrity show.
A representative for the funny woman told the New York Post’s Page Six in April that she “supports the Fashion Police writers, and wants a fair agreement for them”.
Work ground to a halt on April 17 when the writers filed complaints with the state of California claiming that E! and River’s Rugby Productions, which jointly employs them, had not paid funds including overtime.
The network has maintained that it will not give the union recognition without an election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board, according to Variety.
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