Last night's Emmy Awards on NBC, hosted by Law & Order:SVU star Mariska Hargitay, ditched politics to focus on actual awards, a feat almost unheard of in contemporary Hollywood ceremonies.
Hargitay kept it light with jokes about her role as "America's sweetheart sex cop" and avoided hot button political or social issues. Most of the ceremony's presenters and winners surprisingly did the same.
A notable exception was Sally Field, winner of Outstanding Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series for her role in Netflix's Remarkably Bright Creatures. After giving a shout-out to Canada with a gusto that was likely a dig at current trade disputes, she then criticized the Paramount-Warner Brothers Discovery merger.
Sally Field criticizes Paramount-WBD merger. pic.twitter.com/yAx69pjtkk
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“I have been so grateful and so proud to be a part of this community, the arts, for 62 years,” Field professed. “We’re the arts. We matter. Our voices matter. Our diversity, our unique storytelling, matters. We can’t let those voices be silenced or compromised or merged.”
Vince Gilligan, creator of the classics Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, also touched upon politics. Winning Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for his sci-fi show Pluribus, his speech criticized the division of "these past ten years" without explicitly mentioning the president.
Vince Gilligan on the "past ten years." pic.twitter.com/rZxGoA0SMm
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“It’s so weird — a world in which everybody gets along. It’s so sci-fi, but think about it: there’s nothing weirder than our current reality, these past 10 years, you can’t write this stuff. I submit to you that a real world in which people get along is just as believable as what we’ve got now, and achievable. We will never agree on everything, but we can show respect to one another, maybe even kindness, and we can stop listening to a relative few who tell us that that is for suckers and who get their power from dividing us.”
Did Gilligan miss all the years before 2016 when leftists stoked violent division from Ferguson, MO to New Haven, CT? Did he miss the years when leftists fantasized about assassinating former President George W. Bush? In what world was Gilligan living in before 2016?
It was disappointing to see a writer like Gilligan, whose work appeals to broad audiences regardless of politics, sound so oblivious to the political reality half the nation has faced for decades.
As expected, Steven Colbert won the Emmy for Outstanding Variety Series for his now cancelled show. Unlike his show's long insufferable goodbye, Colbert's acceptance speech was short and sweet. He thanked his writers and his wife, never once mentioning President Trump or Republicans.
The ceremony's in memoriam section included a lovely tribute to Dolly Parton, with Reba McEntire singing Parton's song "Appalacian Memories." The song included the lines, "But I'll keep leaning on my Jesus. I know he'll love and guide and lead us. Appalachian memories keep me strong. I'll keep looking to the Father. Keep my head above the water."
It was refreshing that the show did not shy away from Parton's Christian faith.
Awards shows nowadays usually bombard the audience with left-wing political lectures. The fact that last night's show steered clear of leftist propaganda for most of the three hours was a minor miracle.
