Last week, what might have been a generic Jersey Shore: Family Vacation promo took an awkward turn.

Snooki slammed Jersey Shore and MTV, and was joined by her castmates in a group callout against this new spinoff.

Is this an example of labor organizing against exploitation, or people who are dramatic for a living being dramatic?

Whatever it is, MTV is seriously pissed off -- up to the highest echelons of the network.

The OG cast of Jersey Shore feels slighted, exploited, and straight-up insulted by MTV's newest spinoff.

Why? When it comes to the entertainment industry, it's the oldest story in the book.

The network is rolling out a new, younger cast to revamp the classic Jersey Shore series.

The OGs took a serious swipe at MTV over feeling like the cast equivalent of a "starter wife."

Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino, JWoww, DJ Pauly D, Vinny, Deena, Angelina all got in on sharing the same harsh message.

"We are not in support of a version that will exploit our original show, our hard work, and authenticity to gain viewers," their statement read.

Now, TMZ has spoken to multiple high-level sources at MTV. Some very pissed off high-level sources.

Leadership was totally taken off guard by the statement, so this wasn't a final "nuclear option" that the cast was taking after weeks or months of behind-the-scenes talks.

Also? They're mad, calling the cast "ungrateful."

"It's disgusting they'd take a swipe at the network," one of the sources expressed.

Also, some of the claims made in the statement weren't accurate.

MTV notes that they were not struggling before Jersey Shore premiered, and felt that it was an undeserved insult.

What makes this a somewhat unusual situation is that this isn't a "replacement" situation.

Some reality TV franchises do dismiss an entire cast and then hire younger stars to replace them.

It can happen gradually or all at once, but the change can be remarkable either way and leave the original cast feeling discarded.

But ... that's not what is happening here.

The OG stars are still on the network, starring on Jersey Shore: Family Vacation.

Now, maybe MTV will can the lot of them for this public statement, or maybe not, but that's sort of the point -- they put their whole careers on the line to make a callout post.

Maybe this is a sign that this was really that important for the cast to say.

Even if they didn't revitalize MTV or whatever like they claimed, that doesn't make their feelings on the matter invalid.

Of course they are allowed to feel some kind of way about young new reality stars taking up their old mantle.

But ... if this new spinoff (arguably a reboot) isn't impacting the OG stars at all ... what exactly was the point of all of this?

Having feelings is very valid, but expressing them in such a harsh public statement seems self-destructive.

That said, a self-destructive tantrum isn't the most surprising thing in the world coming from this particular cast.