The Tony Awards have not received a waiver. In 1988 they proceeded but without any writers.
However, that was a different time. The awards were presented in a Broadway house (that year, the Minskoff). There was less obsession over who was going to host an awards program (and whoever did end up hosting - which was Angela Lansbury in 1988 -- usually showed up only a few days prior to the ceremony, they were not spending weeks in advance working on the event). In 1988, the other unions were not as engaged in supporting WGA as they seem to be this time. There were no picket lines at the 1988 Tony Awards. In fact, during the ceremony, presenters Jason Robards and Colleen Dewhurst spent a few minutes praising Actors Equity upon its 75th anniversary. At no point in time was there even a reference to the WGA or Equity's support of the strike. |
