Striking 'Fashion Police' Writers Release Video Bashing Joan Rivers

Huffpo Live"All we want is to make you happy," writers told Rivers before going on strike.Fashion critic and comedian Joan Rivers has doled out the harshest of criticisms from her pedestal on the red carpet and behind the desk of her E! Network show, "Fashion Police."

She can dish it, but can she take it?

"Fashion Police" writers released a 3-minute video message, titled "Dear Joan: Can We Talk?", bashing her decision not to support their battle to join the Writers Guild.

Writers filed a claim with state labor officials in April, citing unfair pay and unpaid overtime, and have been on strike since. If upheld, the claim could grant them more than $1 million in back wages.

Around the same time, the writers expressed an interest in organizing and joining The Writers Guild of America West, which would assist them in bargaining for health insurance, a pension plan, and fair pay consistent with industry standards.

Valerie Macon/Getty Images"Fashion Police" writer picket outside E! Network's office in May.The network is allegedly stalling by demanding a National Labor Relations Board election be held first.

When the writers sat Rivers down to discuss, she shut them out immediately.

"She was completely not receptive to it, none of the producers were receptive to it," writer Bryan Cook said. "We were essentially told if we tried to unionize, we would lose our jobs."

The network issued this statement in response:

"Joan Rivers has been and remains emphatically supportive of the writers. Her company does not produce Fashion Police nor set the compensation of E! Networks Productions’ writers. The personal attacks on Joan are grossly unfair and inaccurate."

One writer, the only female to appear in the video, got choked up talking about her disappointment in her comedic hero.

"It was so upsetting to me to find out that this person who had meant so much to me, I meant so little to her," Eliza Skinner said.

Watch the plea below: