For the past several years, watching a major entertainment awards show meant watching two events at once. First was the celebration of the actual talent - the performances, writing, directing, design, and hundreds of background artists and craftspeople who turn an idea into an event that connects with millions of people.
And then there was the politics.
Awards ceremonies have increasingly become platforms where artists are expected not merely to thank their collaborators and celebrate their work, but also to use their few minutes at the microphone to address the political issues of the moment and give audiences their passionate opinions.
But Monday night’s Emmy Awards was different. For the most part, the evening was about television. Oddly enough, an awards ceremony honoring television was about television, and the relative absence of partisan politics was conspicuous enough to make us wonder if the arts might be at a turning point. Has the principle at the heart of FAIR’s mission finally begun to catch on?
Art Was in The Spotlight !
Before the ceremony began, host Mariska Hargitay talked about television in a speech that could have been lifted from the website for FAIR in the Arts. Hargitay emphasized community, not ideology or activism. She talked about the remarkable ability of stories to bring people together, explaining that actors, directors, costumers, sound designers, and others participate in creating television that “unites us.”
The idea that art is where people with profoundly different lives and beliefs can join with one another through laughter, tears, a shared investment in a story, and ultimately our common humanity, is part of what makes the arts essential to a flourishing society. It seemed that on Monday night, Hollywood agreed. There was humor, gratitude, and nostalgia. Veteran artists were celebrated alongside newer talent. Writers, directors, and craftspeople behind the screen received recognition. In essence, what was finally being said is ‘it’s the work that matters.’
Politics stayed in the wings.
Stephen Colbert’s win for The Late Show was especially revealing. Few television personalities have been more closely associated with political commentary over the past decade. The cancellation of The Late Show became entangled in political controversy, and President Trump publicly celebrated its demise while repeatedly criticizing Colbert.
Clearly, the opportunity for a political broadside from the Emmy stage was great. But it didn’t happen. Instead, Colbert made a different choice: He thanked his staff, his family, the people who had appeared on the program, and the creative community that made the show possible.
Has Hollywood Changed the Script?
On Monday night Colbert showed that the Emmy Awards was not the place to share his political views with people who just want to know who won best actor in a comedy. This is not to say that artists don’t have the freedom to create political art and speak politically. They certainly do. But freedom of expression also means an artist should not have to adopt a political identity in order to belong to an artistic community, a point made by Pluribus creator, Vince Gilligan when he said “We will never agree on everything, but we can treat each other with respect.”
For much of the past decade, artists across disciplines have found that political assumptions were intertwined with artistic participation. Questions of representation and identity increasingly influenced not merely what artists discussed, but how institutions commissioned work, distributed opportunities, and even evaluated artistic achievement. Those sentiments weren’t evident during the ceremony.
While this year’s nominees reflected considerable racial and ethnic diversity, the winners in the major acting categories were predominantly white. In recent years, that outcome might itself have become a central storyline, measured against expectations for representation. This year, however, the emphasis seemed to remain largely on the individual performances and achievements being honored. Diversity in the pool of nominees suggests that artists from a wide range of backgrounds are being recognized for exceptional work. But genuine equality also leaves room for the results to be unpredictable. If identity should neither qualify nor disqualify an artist, excellence cannot be expected to produce a predetermined demographic outcome.
FAIR in the Arts exists to support a genuinely pluralistic artistic culture in which people who disagree, sometimes profoundly, can still make extraordinary things together. The Emmys presented something close to that ideal: an awards ceremony devoted to craft, writing, performance, and the creative magic that occurs when talented people create something exceptional.
Should we take this year’s Emmys as evidence of a larger cultural shift? Did producers recognize that audiences have grown weary of political speeches? Artists celebrating artists doesn’t seem like a remarkable thing, but right now it is. And if Monday night represented even the beginning of a renewed understanding that art can bring us together without first requiring us to agree, that truly is something worth celebrating.
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Good news for a change! Wonder what happened? Someone clearly came down on everyone and even managed to convince/strongarm Stephen Colbert into silence.