After a year dominated by the Time’s Up movement, a lot of people were wondering how the Emmy Awards ended up picking two male hosts: Saturday Night Live “Weekend Update” co-anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che.
So before they took the stage, the Emmys opened with a jokey musical number from two of SNL’s nominees, Kate McKinnon and Kenan Thompson, about how Hollywood’s diversity problem has been “solved.” Soon, they were joined by Kristen Bell, Tituss Burgess, John Legend and the “one of each dancers” to prove that everything is fixed now.
“It is an honor to be here sharing this night with the many, many talented and creative people in Hollywood who haven't been caught yet,” Jost began when the pair of hosts finally emerged. He noted that the first Emmy Awards were held in 1949, when “gas was 17 cents a gallon, a new home cost $7,000 and we all agreed that Nazis were bad.”
ADVERTISEMENT
The hosts also took aim at Roseanne Barr, whom Jost joked “canceled herself” before being “picked up by white nationalists.”
“I heard Roseanne is actually moving to Israel,” Che added. “How messed up is your life when you have to go to the Middle East just to get peace of mind?” Che also offered his congratulations to Laurie Metcalf, who received the Roseanne reboot’s only nomination. “I mean, wow, that's incredible,” he said. “You know how great an actress you have to be to get nominated for Roseanne now? That's like nominating a cop for a BET award.”
The pair also cracked a lot of jokes about Netflix, skewering the platform’s recently-signed deal with the Obamas. Jost added that his “dream” is that Netflix creates just one show: a new version of The Apprentice that gets “way higher ratings.”
