Grey’s Anatomy fans push for boycott against Season 14 departures: What you need to know

Grey’s Anatomy fans aren’t happy with the decision to write Arizona and April out of the series. Many have grown to love them over the years and now fans want a boycott.

A Grey’s Anatomy boycott is threatening to happen. Fans of the series aren’t happy with the latest news about Jessica Capshaw and Sarah Drew leaving the show. Of course, there is a lot of mixed information at the moment and people reading between the lines of announcements. Deadlines’ initial comment about Ellen Pompeo’s salary increase leading to the two actresses departing certainly didn’t help.

However, now fans want to keep Arizona and April in the series. To do that they’ve decided to set up a boycott. Many took to Facebook groups to find supporters, but then there was a lot of miscommunication and uncertainty about how to move forward.

More from ABC

• Dancing with the Stars season 32 week 9 scorecard: Who went home on DWTS?
• Roger Howarth is leaving General Hospital (Cast exit explained)
• Taylor Swift won’t appear in special Dancing with the Stars episode
• ABC will start rolling out its midseason schedule January 2024 (Release dates and airtimes)
• Grey’s Anatomy season 20 officially has a premiere date (Everything to know)

Boycotts can be powerful ways to alert networks and showrunners that you’re not happy. But how can you boycott and still watch the episodes? How can you keep up with a series, rather than waiting for it to come to an end? Is something like that even possible?

Avoid watching for a week

It’s not just about not watching live. If you want to boycott Grey’s Anatomy for the Season 14 departures, then you’ll need to hold off watching the episode for at least three days. Within these three days is when the networks still count the views. This even includes the views on Hulu, where you get to stream the very next day.

Some will even count the live + seven days, which means the full week is out. If you want to boycott the ratings windows but still watch the episode, you’ll need to wait until the following Thursday. That will mean you’re one week behind.

Oh, and you’ll want to avoid using #GreysAnatomy on social media three hours before, during and the three hours after a new episode. Nielsen tracks the social, so by tweeting (even if you’re saying you’re not watching), you’re adding to the social ranking.

Watch your favorite shows on fuboTV: Watch over 67 live sports and entertainment channels with a 7-day FREE trial!

There will likely be spoilers

If you want to avoid Grey’s Anatomy spoilers, then you’ll need to avoid social media during your boycott. People are going to post things on Twitter. They will share their thoughts in Facebook groups. People do put content on Instagram. After all, tweeting live throughout the Thursday night episodes is important for social media ranking for some.

I say this as someone who doesn’t watch Grey’s Anatomy live each week. Supernatural is on at the same time and that’s the show I watch live. If I want to avoid the spoilers for the episode, I have to avoid anywhere on social media that is likely talking about it. It’s annoying but the only guaranteed way I can avoid spoilers.

A Grey’s Anatomy boycott is something you can want to do, but you’ll need to think about how to do it. This isn’t just about now watching an episode one night. You’ll need to avoid it for at least three days and maybe up to a week.

Next: 15 heartbreaking Grey's Anatomy deaths we're still not over

Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursdays at 8/7c on ABC.

Are you avoiding Grey’s Anatomy after the casting news? What steps are you taking to show you’re disappointed in the creative decisions? Share your thoughts in the comments below.