Drew Walks It Back With "Astute Humility!" With An UPDATE!

Can you hear the screeching tires? Do you see the donut marks on the pavement? In an extraordinary reversal, Drew Barrymore announced today that her cash-grab syndicated talk show will not be returning during the dual strikes of the WGA and SAG, but instead will return after the strikes have concluded. Luckily for our darling, funny-bunny Drew, this does not affect her cash-grab gambling app, Bingo Blitz, or her cash-grab kitchen product line, Beautiful at WalMart, or her cash-grab hair and beauty products, like Drew's Flower Hair Tools, or her cash-grab "Drew's News" products, like her branded coffee cups and T-shirts. So rest easy, kids. Drew will not be homeless. Phew. I knew you were worried.

The most notable thing about this desperate, deeply cynical reversal is how swift it was, and how vehemently the public turned against her. Part of this was Drew's own doing. Her boneheaded Instagram posts and videos - one of which she pulled - were flat-out embarrassing and moronic ("astute humility" has now entered the stupido-phrase lexicon). But it also comes with being a purveyor of "nice." No one will accuse Whoopi Goldberg or Joy Behar of being consistently nice and sunshiney, so there was little pushback from the public when "The View" decided to keep shooting without union writers. Hating on "The View" is part of its appeal. Similarly, the public isn't decrying Bill Maher's return to his HBO gab fest, "Real Time," since his main appeal is his tiresome crankiness and libertarian (read: right-leaning) contrariness. 

It didn't help when celebrities themselves spoke out against Drew being a dirty scab, including Alyssa Milano, Bradley Whitford and Debra Messing. And by the way, it doesn't actually matter what you may think of those celebrities individually; celebrities slamming Drew was a very bad look for Drew. The celebrities who did support Drew for being a dirty scab - including Kristin Bell, Jennifer Garner and Cara Delevingne - were summarily ignored. We live in a time of harsh income inequality, and if you want to look like "just funsy folks," which is Drew's entire brand, you don't make yourself the poster child for scabbing. 

Don't for a moment believe that cutesy-wootsy Drew suddenly developed a caring social conscious or realized the error of her ways. This was a bottom-line, Scrooge McDuck course correction, a way to protect the brand and keep its many revenue streams healthy and profitable. Or to put it another way, when "The Onion" hits the scab on the noggin with such scary accuracy - as they're wont to do - you know it's time to rethink your choices.

UPDATE: In addition to Drew, Bill Maher is now walking it back. His show "Real Time" show will not return "for now," he says. What does that mean? It means if there's an impasse between the WGA and the studios in their scheduled talks this week, Bill "might" go back to his original plan to revive his show during the strike. Ergo, Bill wants praise and adoration for taking a stand, even though he may not take that stand for more than a few days. 

Photo Credits: YouTube, The Onion, CBS Media Ventures