Jennifer Coolidge speaks out in support of writers' strike during acceptance speech at MTV Movie and TV Awards

Jennifer Coolidge spoke out in support of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike during her acceptance speech at the MTV Movie and TV Awards.

The 61-year-old actress clinched the gong for the Most Frightened Performance for her part as Tanya McQuoid in 'The White Lotus' and reminded viewers in her speech that "great comedy starts with great writers" as the WGA fights in protest of their current working conditions.

She fought off competition from Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Cocaine Bear), Justin Long (Barbarian), Rachel Sennott (Bodies Bodies Bodies) and Sosie Bacon (Smile) for the award.

Speaking at the event on Sunday (May 7), Jennifer said: "Almost all great comedy starts with great writers. I just think as a proud member of SAG [Screen Actors Guild], I stand here before you tonight side by side with my sisters and brothers from the WGA that are fighting right now, fighting for the rights of artists everywhere.

"I think of the words of Shakespeare where he once said, you know, the play is the thing. Well, I don't want to put words in his mouth or anything, but I think what he really meant was, 'It's everything!'"

The actress also won the coveted Comedic Genius Award at the annual ceremony, which went on without a host after presenters such as Drew Barrymore and Jamie Lee Curtis stepped down from their duties to show their support for the writers' strike.

Other big winners of the night included Scream VI for Best Movie and The Last of Us for Best Show.

Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise beat the likes of Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Keke Palmer, and Michael B. Jordan to scoop Best Performance in a Movie for Top Gun: Maverick.

In a pre-recorded speech that saw him piloting a plane, he said: "I love you, I love entertaining you."

Pop singer Selena Gomez was awarded Best Music Documentary for her mental-health film My Mind and Me.

The Kardashians was awarded Best Docu-Reality Series, and Jenna Ortega was awarded Best

Performance in a Show for her starring role in the Netflix hit Wednesday.

Full list of winners:

Best movie

Scream VI

Best show

The Last of Us

Best performance in a movie

Tom Cruise, Top Gun: Maverick

Best performance in a show

Jenna Ortega, Wednesday

Best comedic performance

Adam Sandler, Murder Mystery 2

Best hero

Pedro Pascal, The Last Of Us

Best villain

Elizabeth Olsen, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Best kiss

Madison Bailey and Rudy Pankow, Outer Banks

Most frightened performance

Jennifer Coolidge, The White Lotus

Best fight

Gale Weathers vs. Ghostface, Scream VI

Best breakthrough performance

Joseph Quinn, Stranger Things

Best duo

Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, The Last Of Us

Best kick-a** cast

Stranger Things

Best song

Carolina, Taylor Swift

Best musical moment

Come Back Home in Purple Hearts

Best music documentary

Selena Gomez: My Mind and Me

Best docu-reality show

The Kardashians

Best competition series

RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars

Best host

Drew Barrymore, The Drew Barrymore Show

Best reality on-screen team

Ariana Madix, Katie Maloney, Scheana Shay, LaLa Kent, Vanderpump Rules

Comedic genius award

Jennifer Coolidge