Last night, Hollywood rolled out the red carpet to celebrate the best in television with the Emmy Awards. It was your usual evening of A-list celebrities basking in the glow of their accomplishments (full winners list here), however, what everyone seems to be talking about this morning is one huge, sour joke that is leaving a bitter taste in the mouth.
As part of his opening monologue, Stephen Colbert wheeled out former White House press secretary Sean Spicer to the shock of those inside the Microsoft Theater. Some celebrities were delighted, others far less so, and after a quick joke about the audience size, the moment was over. However, Twitter lit up, and there was plenty of condemnation about letting a man who actively worked to shut down the press, and gamely pushed forth Trump’s talking points without question, get a free pass at prime time redemption.
The idea for giving Spicer some awards ceremony shine came, somewhat surprisingly, from Colbert and his producing team, who certainly haven’t been shy in their criticisms of the Trump administration. They also knew the moment would create strong blowback, but what no one guessed is that Spicer would become an instant hit. Or that he would get defended by Alec Baldwin, of all people.
https://twitter.com/chrissgardner/status/909598875928772608
https://twitter.com/thr/status/909597313152065536
Not everyone was keen to let Spicer — who only four months ago said that Hitler didn’t use chemical weapons — slide, and condemnation came swiftly from all corners:
https://twitter.com/zachbraff/status/909583547131817986
https://twitter.com/jennyslate/status/909629529919954944
https://twitter.com/jawnita/status/909571794314629120
https://twitter.com/theplaylist/status/909762259492229122
https://twitter.com/harikunzru/status/909581184467947520
https://twitter.com/Timodc/status/909578934479593472
https://twitter.com/mviser/status/909572563482890240
However, Colbert isn’t the only one who should be shouldering the blame for Hollywood’s participation in rebranding Sean Spicer. Just last week, Jimmy Kimmel gave the former politico twenty minutes of airtime on his show, to essentially say he was just following orders.
It doesn’t need to be explained how bad the optics on this are, especially considering how thoroughly Jimmy Fallon was raked over the coals for “normalizing” Donald Trump (a source on the production team on the Emmys lamely commented to CNN, “Donald Trump normalized Spicer”). Now, here’s two late night hosts essentially ignoring Sean Spicer’s very recent past, all in the name of ratings. And lest you think that was the most tone-deaf moment of the Emmys, don’t forget that disgraced Fox chairman Roger Ailes was featured in the In Memoriam section of the show.
Thoughts? Hit up the comments section.
Let’s not get blown away by the story of “evil people” who are doing their jobs in the federal government. Sean Spicer was hired to be a dick on the podium. He was a dick on the podium and was roundly ridiculed for it. He is now off the podium and has the guts to be in on the nationwide joke that he became. By this logic, the democrats who are trying to work with Trump on the DACA rollback are also evil. So are the federal employees across the country, and also those who benefit by federal schemes.
Trump is an evil man. The structure of a democratic government demands that he will be supported by a machinery of people who do not act as the voice of the conscience of nation, but as the voice of his office. It is a thankless job, and someone has to do it.