Zero Emmy Surprises: Trump-Bashing Content Rules

To the surprise of nobody, Sunday’s Emmy broadcast was yet another chance for the liberal Hollywood elite to do what they always do – insult half the country, alienate viewers and push their bankrupt culture agenda.

In the old days, when class acts like Johnny Carson hosted award shows, you could expect some jabs at politicians. They were playful, though, not bitter or laced with anger.

It’s classless enough to go after President Donald Trump – who has plenty of quirks to make fun of without resorting to gutter humor. The thing about the “comedy” at this year’s Emmys telecast is that it was just lazy. It was expected. It was boring.

Worst of all? It wasn’t funny.

I thought you people loved morally compromised antiheroes. You like Walter White. [Trump is] just Walter Much Whiter. And he never forgave you and he never will. The president has complained repeatedly that the Emmys are rigged. He even went after the host a few years back tweeting, “That Seth Meyers is hosting the Emmy Awards is a total joke. He is very awkward with almost no talent. Marbles in his mouth.” Wow, marbles in his mouth. That’s harsh.

Stephen Colbert, a talented comedian when he wants to be, could have attempted original and daring material. Instead, he went for the clichéd and dull.

No Emmy Surprises to Be Found

For any conservative still under the impression that Hollywood liberals are not projecting with their hateful rhetoric, just look at the award for Best Writing in a Comedy Series. The Emmy went to Aziz Ansari and Lena Waithe for the “Master of None” episode “Thanksgiving.”

In a flashback scene, Denise’s (Lena Waithe) family mentions three black men in the space of just 10 lines:

Aunt: God is able, Jesus wept – can we please talk about O.J.?

Grandma: I don’t know what we’re going to talk about, he didn’t do it.

Denise: What about all that blood? How you know, grandma?

Grandma: Cuz I just know.

Mom: Oooh, if Nicole was black we wouldn’t even be talking about this.

Grandma: You know that’s right.

Aunt: They are always trying to take down our black icons. Look at Michael – I still don’t believe he touched them kids.

Mom: Anytime these folks see a black man coming up in the world making himself enough money to be able to get himself a white woman, they try to frame him.

Denise: What about Clarence Thomas?

Grandma: [Expletive] his ass.

So the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences hands an award for “best writing” in a comedy series to a show that:

• Makes two black women look like utter fools in proclaiming O.J. Simpson’s innocence, essentially claiming that because he was black, he was framed.
• Makes two black women look like utter fools in defending an alleged child molester.
• Insults the second black Supreme Court Justice in American history, in the most crass and distasteful manner possible.

One might agree that this show is, indeed, a “comedy” series because the line about Thomas comes just after these women say how blacks must work twice as hard to get half as far in life.

That does not apply to black Supreme Court Justices, however. Or rather, it does not apply to conservative ones, because in Hollywood, and in liberal minds, a black person is only truly black if s/he is a liberal.

Mia Love. Tim Scott. Clarence Thomas. Condoleezza Rice. Michael Steele. Larry Elder. Look up “insults about ______” and it’s all right there.

An ‘A’ for Effort

It’s a shame. Ansari’s Netflix series, up until that episode, was rather enjoyable. It was about his struggles as an actor in New York, cultural conflicts with his parents, falling in love and relationship conflicts – all very human, very funny stuff.  “Master of None” was actually the first television show I could think of where it was cast for diversity, but not for the sake of casting for diversity. The show features the best actors to fill out a demographic that reflected New York City.

Alas, Ansari has to be the insufferable liberal and shove it in our faces.

Yet there was another flaw in this particular episode, which was about Denise coming out as gay.  It’s not a terribly unique concept, but the execution still had the series’ trademark humanness.

Yet in just those 10 lines, many conservative or libertarian viewers likely shut off the show. That’s what I did. Right then and there. I simply did not care about the characters Ansari had so painstakingly created any more because he insulted the minorities he claims to care about by making them look stupid, and denigrating one of the great black men of modern history.

Bash Trump, Win an Emmy

As for the other awards, there’s no shock about “The Handmaid’s Tale.” It’s a solid show, but the “subjugation of women” story line fits liberal sensibilities. Never mind that Netflix’s “House of Cards” was far better show and featured best, and most fully realized, female characters on television.

No shock that Alec Baldwin and Kate McKinnon win for best supporting actor/actress in a comedy series. After all, Baldwin’s blustering Trump impression is just SO funny the millionth time. McKinnon is just SO hilarious with her Hillary Clinton impersonation, too.

I’m sticking with HBO’s snubbed drama “Westworld.” At least there, the robots are unpredictable.

Lawrence Meyers is a former television writer and playwright responsible for “Porn Rock” and “Dark Arts.”