Matt Walsh, who was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards for his role on Veep, has walked off the set of Dancing With the Stars in solidarity with striking workers, after being informed by the Writers Guild of America that the unscripted series was nevertheless considered struck work. The series, which teams professional dancers with celebrities from the worlds of Hollywood, social media, and politics, ran afoul of striking members of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA — the union representing actors, which is also currently on strike. Studios, struggling to keep the content pipeline flowing during the strikes, turned to unscripted “reality” programming during the 2007-2008 writers strike, and have followed a similar strategy this year.
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Walsh, co-founder of the improv theatre group the Upright Citizens Brigade, claims he did not know that unscripted programming like Dancing With the Stars was work covered by the strike.
“I am taking a pause from Dancing with the Stars until an agreement is made with the WGA,” Walsh said in a statement. “I was excited to join the show and did so under the impression that it was not a WGA show and fell under a different agreement.”
Walsh, who is paired with Koko Iwasaki on the series, was one of three SAG-AFTRA stars — along with How I Met Your Mother‘s Alyson Hannigan and Oscar winner Mira Sorvino — who were specifically singled out by picketers outside the Dancing With the Stars rehearsal hall.
“This morning when I was informed by my union, the WGA, that it is considered struck work I walked out of my rehearsal. I have been and will always stand with my union members of the WGA, SAG and DGA,” Walsh added. “Beyond our union artists, I am sensitive to the many people impacted by the strike and I hope for a speedy and fair resolution, and to one day work again with all the wonderful people I met at DWTS who tolerated my dancing.”
Walsh recently appeared in Searchlight/Hulu’s Flamin’ Hot, the Eva Longoria-directed biopic of the man who invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. He previously starred with Longorio in 2022’s Unplugging.
According to Deadline, who first reported the story, ABC is considering delaying the premiere of Dancing With the Stars, which could suggest that there was some confusion around the contracts that went beyond Walsh.
