The 69th Primetime Emmy Awards hosted by liberal Late Show host Stephen Colbert aired Sunday, September 17 on CBS. Colbert’s displeasure with President Trump’s November victory was immediately apparent as his full seventeen-minute show opening was chock-full of slings and arrows flung at him and the anti-Trump hate-fest continued all night with several winners even addressing the president directly.
With the help of presenting actors and actresses, along with those up for awards, the show began in a silly song and dance routine that included the line by Julia Louis-Dreyfus's Veep character President Selina Meyer, "Imagine if your president was not beloved by Nazis."
Colbert did begin his monologue with a zinger aimed at the celebrity audience that rang true – the show is “us celebrating us,” he said. Then, as predicted, he launched into politics. In case President Trump was watching, “Hello, Sir, thank you for joining us,” he said after a criticism that Trump watches a lot of television. He noted that Trump (nominated three times for The Apprentice) never won an Emmy, which was odd because Hollywood loves "morally compromised antiheroes." Colbert said if Trump had won an Emmy than he probably wouldn’t have run for President but, “Unlike the presidency, the Emmy goes to the winner of the popular vote.”
Colbert commented about the size of the audience in attendance and former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer came out for a cameo appearance. The faces in the audience showed expressions of shock and that, to me, was priceless. Colbert thanked Melissa McCarthy, not Spicer by name. Classy, Stephen Colbert. (Melissa McCarthy won an Emmy for her portrayal of Spicer in a separate ceremony.)
Saturday Night Live’s Kate McKinnon, who impersonates Hillary Clinton on the show, won for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She said this politically charged season of SNL was "the most meaningful thing that I will ever do," then thanked Hillary Clinton for “her grace and grit.” Umm. What?
Kate McKinnon: Yikes. Wow. I can't-- thank you so much. Being part of this season of "Saturday Night Live" was the most meaningful thing that I will ever do. So, I should just probably stop now. Thank you so much to Lorne Michaels for letting me be a part of this and for everything else in my life. Congratulations to our incredible cast, especially Vanessa, Lesley and Alec, love you all so much. Thank you to our crew and thank you to our amazing writers. It's all about the writing, you guys. Especially Kelly and Sarah Schneider, I love you so much. Thank you to Fred, Brian, Melissa, Lorne, thank you to my L.A. Moms, thank you, Jack, I love you. What else. Thank you, on a personal note I want to say thank you to Hillary Clinton for your grace and grit and thank you my mother and sister.
Alec Baldwin won Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his role on Saturday Night Live as President Trump. See a pattern developing? He mocked the president, of course, about his Emmy and then about the orange wig he wears to play Trump.
Alec Baldwin: I suppose I should say at long last Mr. President, here is your Emmy. I want to thank my wife, my wife and hi three children in three years and we didn't have a child last year during the SNL season. I wonder if there is a correlation there, all you men up there. You put that orange wig on, it's birth control, trust me. Thank you to Lorne, always to Lorne, thank you to Chris and Sarah and Ken Ward and all the great writers at SNL, congratulations to Kate and, thank you to the cast, thank you to Lindsey and to Grace for making me feel welcome there. Thank you to Steve for giving me a lot of encouragement. I want to say, if I leave anybody out I'm sorry but I want to get this in. I always remember someone told me when you die you don't remember a bill that Congress passed or a decision the Supreme Court made, or an address made by the president. You remember a song, you remember a line from a movie, you remember a play, you remember a book, a painting, a poem, what we do is important.
The always political actresses Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, along with Dolly Parton, the stars of the 1980 hit movie Nine to Five, came out to present the award for the Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie. Right away, it went south. While talking about getting together again for a sequel movie, the dialogue went like this:
“Back in 1980, in that movie, we refused to be controlled by a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot. And in 2017, we still refuse to be controlled by a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot.”
Dolly Parton – a non-political actress and country star, reined them back in by stating she was certain the women were talking about Mr. Hart, their fictional boss character in Nine to Five. LOL! That was a nice touch.
As actor Donald Glover, accepted the Emmy for Lead Actor in a Comedy for FX's Atlanta, after acknowledging his own unborn son, he wanted to make sure to claim that President Trump has placed black people as number one on the "most opposed" people list.
Donald Glover: I'm so happy. Wow! Thank you, guys, so much. This is nuts. I really want to thank The Academy again, everybody in here, you guys, I love you. I want to thank my mom and my dad again, I want to thank the city of Atlanta. I want to thank FX. I want to thank-- I want to thank Michelle, my partner, you love me even how crazy I get. I want to thank my baby, my son, for just being the joy in my life. I want to thank my unborn son, we're listening to Stevie tonight. I want to thank Trump for making black people number one on the most oppressed list. He's the reason I'm probably up here. And I just want to thank all the writers and all the people in here and everybody doing great work. Because it's so necessary.
Voicing every Hollywood liberal’s dream wish, Julia Louis-Dreyfus won for Lead Actress of a Comedy Series (Veep) and mentioned that next season, the final one, will have interesting stories but the one about impeachment was scratched. She said the writers thought “someone else might get to it first.” It’s just a crazy dream, Julia.
The Handmaid's Tale was the big winner of the night, no doubt because it has been embraced as condemning "Trump's America," taking home the awards for Outstanding Drama and Lead Actress in a Drama Series for star Elizabeth Moss.
The entire awards show was peppered with political cheap shots at the president. At least half of the country doesn’t tune in to be lectured by Hollywood elites in their bitter, liberal bubbles. It seems to me, with an ever-shrinking audience for these award shows, Hollywood would get the message.
