Politics At the Emmy’s - Al Gore, Sally Field… and Conan?
Did Fox screw with the Emmy’s?If you missed it,
the 59th Annual Emmy Awards were broadcast last night on Fox.
James Spader (video), who won
Best Actor in a Drama put it best when he asked, "
I don't know who votes. I don't even know where you get a ballot." Good question James, because... politically speaking... last night's show was all over the place.
Sally Field, who won
Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series got political at the end of her acceptance speech, distressed over the war. The final sentence of her speech had to be censored when she used "the GD word":
(video of Sally Field's speech)The censored comment:
"If mothers ruled the world, there wouldn't be any god-damned wars in the first place."
Was Fox censoring her
political speech, or her
language? Considering they didn't bleep out her comments up until that point, it's not unreasonable to believe she was cut-off just for use of the word. But, if you watch the video, the "you're taking too long" music starts to play her offstage SEVEN SECONDS after she says the word "war", a mere
ONE MINUTE AND 37 SECONDS INTO HER ACCEPTANCE SPEECH. This was one of the last awards of the night, and typically, the winners of the more prestigious awards are allowed to speak longer than the guy that wins for "best costume". So was Sally being hurried off stage even before her censored use of the GD word? I leave that up to you.
(...)
On the flip-side, when Emmy voters were given a chance to express
their own political voice, they punked out. In the race for "Best writing of a Variety, Music or Comedy Program",
four of the five shows were well known for their strong anti-Bush political sentiments: "The Colbert Report", "The Daily Show", "The Late Show with David Letterman", "Real Time with Bill Maher", and "Late Night with Conan O'Brien"... whom I'm not sure has ever done a political joke on his show.
And the winner is? Why, the LEAST controversial one, of course!
(...)
So between censored comments, odd results, and obvious audience support for a particular political view, did the Fox Network pull any strings last night, influencing votes and/or hurrying any winners off-stage that might make a political comment? You tell me.