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FiTV: The Emmy honours?

NBC recently announced their pick for the hosts of this fall’s Emmy Awards. Saturday Night Live’s “Weekend Update” anchors Michael Che and Colin Jost will share referee and bouncer duties at this year’s awards show.
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NBC recently announced their pick for the hosts of this fall’s Emmy Awards.  Saturday Night Live’s “Weekend Update” anchors Michael Che and Colin Jost will share referee and bouncer duties at this year’s awards show.  Given that the job is often handed off to a television comedian, it’s no surprise that the network looked down its own halls for available talent.

However, the public response has been divided.

Some declared their pleasure with full caps and smiley-face emojis.  Others were slightly more expressive, using complete sentences to congratulate the SNL duo on the addition to their demo reel.

However, once again the #MeToo movement reared its head, as some on social media questioned NBC’s choice.  In the past, both Che and Jost have been quite comfortable making highly questionable and suggestive jokes.  Will they be able to read the temperature in the room?  Or in America for that matter?

A recent article in The Daily Beast questioned Che’s “transphobic” language in his own stand-up show.  (Jost has been only slightly better.)  Of course, general offensiveness has been Che’s comedic bread and butter for years.  However, rather than brushing off the critique, Che responded by encouraging his social media followers to go after the journalist personally.

So in a time of political correctness when sexual harassment is still very much a hot-button issue, are Jost and Che the right choice for such a respected primetime special?

Furthermore, where have all the female comedians gone?  The Emmys have rarely deigned to use a female host.  In fact, Jane Lynch was the last one to grace the stage back in 2011.  Is NBC really that short on talent with two X chromosomes?

Just a quick reminder: SNL also features the multi-faceted Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones.  And since their boss, Lorne Michaels, is the Executive Producer for this year’s Emmys, getting them to take the job would be pretty easy.  Women have been pressured into unwanted activities in Hollywood for years.  Surely, these two gals could be coerced to take a thankless hosting job for a night in September!

But regardless of the SNL connection, if Hollywood wants to support and promote female empowerment as it has claimed, women need to be the ringmaster for these kinds of events at least fifty percent of the time. 

Then again, is the hosting gig for an awards show with a dwindling number of viewers really going to impact the millions of women world-wide who are victims of sexual harassment?

I don’t think even the almighty Ellen DeGeneres’ presence could add anything to the cause at this point.  I’d like to think we’re beyond the kind, but inevitably useless, lapel pins and “We stand with you” rhetoric – especially now that Bill Cosby’s finally been found guilty.  It’s time for real (and legal) action. 

So in the end, “Comedian/Host” is hardly a job title that will make or break a résumé.  Unless you’re Michelle Wolf and it’s the recent White House Correspondent’s Dinner.  And you’ve just insulted everyone in the room.

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