Thursday's Writers Guild of America statement concerning Jay Leno's return to late-night with self-penned monologues was not as clear as it seems: "A discussion took place today between Jay Leno and the Writers Guild to clarify to him that writing for The Tonight Show constitutes a violation of the Guilds' strike rules." This morning, though, speaking to Radar, a WGA spokesperson was unable to specify any consequences Leno might face if he continues to write his own material. The spokesperson said only that they'd been talking with Jay and that "hopefully he won't continue [writing his own monologues], and it won't be an issue."

The WGA statement follows a week filled with he said, he said confusion over strike rules. Leno delivered Wednesday night without his writers, saying he had written his own opening monologue and tested his jokes on his wife. According to Deadline Hollywood, NBC says Jay had met with WGA West President Patric Verrone and his writers beforehand and that he'd gotten the green light: "We're going to look the other way," was reportedly Verrone's reply.

Leno is then said to have checked in with Verrone Thursday morning, when Verrone told Jay he was in violation of the strike despite their previous alleged conversation. On its website, the WGA added that previous stories on Deadline Hollywood that said Leno had been issued special dispensation by the WGA to write his own monologue were simply untrue.

NBC issued its own statement: "The WGA agreement permits Jay Leno to write his own monologue for The Tonight Show." Not so says the Guild. Under the WGA's "Minimum Basic Agreement," a performer is allowed to write for himself, but this agreement does not apply to performers who are also writers on the show, as Leno obviously is.

It sounds like the WGA is trying to have it both ways. They want to support Leno as a writer who has been put in a bad place by his network, while at the same time come down hard on NBC. The strike blog posted this last night: "All writers' beef should be with NBC, not Jay. His beef is with NBC, not other writers. We're all fighting against giant, monster corporations, and we're going to argue internally about the best way to do that. It's unavoidable. But we can't let it blow up into something that keeps us from seeing the bigger picture."

We'll see next week if Leno finds a miraculous way to perform a monologue without writing it. We'll also see more writer-less late-night hosts forced back on air by "giant, monster corporations," as Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert return on Monday. Good times!