Memorable Moments at the 73 Emmy Awards
The 73rd Emmy Awards took place on Sunday, Sept. 19 in Los Angeles and were hosted by Cedric the Entertainer. Netflix’s original “The Crown” swept seven categories for awards, including Drama Series, Lead Actress and Actor in a Drama Series, and Supporting Actress and Actor in a Drama Series. Other winners included Kate Winslet for Lead Actress (Limited Series, Movie or Anthology) in “Mare of Easttown,” Jason Sudeikis for Lead Actor (Comedy) in “Ted Lasso,” and Ewan McGregor for Lead Actor (Limited Series, Movie or Anthology) in “Halston.”
Other memorable parts of the night, not necessarily for a good reason, included Seth Rogen’s jokes about the COVID protocol surrounding the awards show.
“They said this was outdoors. It’s not. They lied to us. We’re in a hermetically sealed tent right now. I would not have come to this,” Rogen commented, before presenting the award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy.
“There are way too many of us in this little room,” stated Rogen.
Although he may have intended for his comments to come off as jokes, they were upsetting to Emmy producers Ian Stewart and Reginald Hudlin, who spent months ensuring that they were hosting a safe event, in terms of COVID.
“We have worked for months and months to make that a safe space,” said Stewart in an interview with Variety. “We’ve worked with all the health authorities. We were signed off by LA County, we came up with a plan with them.”
He explained that all the tables were socially distanced, each person was vaccinated, and everyone in the audience had tested negative for COVID.
“It made three months of very hard work and many, many discussions to get it absolutely right feel a bit wasted, really,” Stewart went on to say, in regards to Rogen’s comments.
I think this interaction goes on to remind us that we are still in a pandemic, despite events such as sports games, award shows, and concerts returning to normal. While Rogen’s comments may have missed the mark, it is important to remember that we still need to be safe and sensible when it comes to COVID restrictions.