MOLLY VANDENBERG
Staff Writer
With Stephen Colbert as this year’s host, the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards was, of course, filled with Trump jokes. If you’re familiar with his talk show, this comes as no surprise.
Colbert’s opening monologue was centered around Trump, making the suggestion that television is an escape from the Trump-era we are now living in.
The rest of the Trump banter that followed seemed to center less on his leadership abilities and more on the fact that he never won an Emmy during his reality television years.
Even Alec Baldwin went along with the ongoing theme of the night. Baldwin won best supporting actor in a comedy in his portrayal of Trump on “Saturday Night Live.”
“I suppose I should say at long last, Mr. President, here is your Emmy,” said Baldwin.
In my opinion, these jokes are becoming repetitive and recycled. We get the point. We got it months ago. How are these constant jabs contributing to any positive change?
Sean Spicer parodied himself during Colbert’s opening monologue. In a strange appearance with a mock press room lectern, he made fun of his own statement involving Trump’s inauguration and how it was “the largest audience ever to witness an inauguration.”
His claim was proven false simply by looking at pictures. It seems like Spicer is trying anything to get his ratings back up, but he’s just ruining his own credibility in the long run.
In positive news, Donald Glover and Lena Waithe made history. Glover is the first African American to win in the best comedy series director category for “Atlanta.” Waithe is the first African American woman to win in the best comedy series writer category for “Master of None,” alongside Aziz Ansari.
Some of the other big winners of the night included “The Handmaid’s Tale” on Hulu and “Big Little Lies” on HBO.
Hulu became the first streaming service to win a best drama series Emmy. This is surprising due to its smaller reach. Hulu has 12 million U.S. subscribers, while Netflix has 51 million.
With the rise of streaming networks, I feel like award shows are almost going out of style. We can just re-watch the most talked about clips on Youtube if we are so inclined.
However, the world of television has become more diverse than ever before with more women, people of color and members of the LGBT community having their stories told and voices heard.