ABC Considering Delaying DANCING WITH THE STARS Premiere Due to WGA Strike

ABC is starting to plan the postponement of the season 32 premiere of Dancing With the Stars.

After celebrity contestants Matt Walsh, Alyson Hannigan and Mira Sorvino have all received pressure to withdraw from the competition, The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Walsh is going to "pause" his involvement in the show until a deal with the WGA is made.

"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.  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 said in a statement.

While Dancing With the Stars is unscripted, it is a signatory to the Writers Guild of America's minimum basic agreement and has employed a WGA script writer in the past to write comments for the hosts. 

Walsh, who is a member of both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA, has been specifically called out by members of the WGA picketing outside of the Dancing With the Stars rehearsal spaces this week

The show is covered under the SAG-AFTRA National Code of Fair Practice for Network Television Broadcasting, which is the same rule that applies to daytime soap operas and morning shows. Since it is separate from the film and TV collective bargaining agreement that SAG-AFTRA members are currently striking for, actors are allowed to participate. 

The season has been set to launch on Tuesday, September 26 and is the first series to simulcast across both ABC and Disney+ for its upcoming season, and will be available the next day on Hulu.

Hosted by Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough, the hit series pairs celebrities with trained ballroom dancers to compete in themed choreographed dance routines that are judged by a panel of renowned ballroom experts, including Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli and Derek Hough.

The new season was set to feature Tyson Beckford, Xochitl Gomez, Alyson Hannigan, Harry Jowsey, Jason Mraz, Adrian Peterson, Lele Pons, Mira Sorvino, Mauricio Umansky, Matt Walsh and Barry Williams Join Previously Announced Celebrities Charity Lawson, Ariana Madix and Jamie Lynn Spears.

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