The irony is impossible to miss with this one.
In a hall filled with Hollywood’s brightest, Stephen Colbert won his first Emmy in the Outstanding Talk Series category on Monday. CBS, the same network that axed The Late Show just two months ago, aired the awards, now basking in the glory of a programme it has already deemed expendable. It was a sharp reminder that in today’s world, satire can be rewarded onstage but punished behind the curtains.
The night belonged to Colbert in more ways than one. He received not one but three standing ovations. The first came when he stepped out to present the opening award of the evening, greeted like a returning hero by a thunderous audience. He turned the moment into a job posting for his team, “Is anyone hiring? ’Cause I’ve got 200 very well-qualified candidates with me here tonight who’ll be available in June.” His gag was a weapon sharp enough to skewer CBS while lifting up his colleagues, the real collateral damage of the show’s cancellation.
The second ovation came when (the legend) Bryan Cranston announced the winner for Colbert’s category. The audience erupted even before the name was announced. Cranston was smirking; everyone knew who the winner was already. They were up on their feet as Colbert and his team took the stage. The third came after Colbert’s acceptance speech where he unsurprisingly thanked CBS for the platform, instead of aiming a shot at them. Quoting a Prince song, he told a rapturous audience: “If the elevator tries to bring you down, go crazy and punch a higher floor.” He had slipped in his note of resistance. The audience was on their feet, again.
A cancelled show wins the top award in its category. Corporate caution gets to erase a talk-show host from late-night TV, while his peers rise to their feet in ovation after ovation. If anything, the Emmys became a referendum this year, not on whether Colbert was good enough for the slot, but on whether CBS was honest about why it pulled the plug. In July, Colbert was punished for taking aim at the corporate and political nexus funding his airtime. His criticism of his employer (and a certain deal with the US President) became too pointed, too public, too inconvenient. CBS’s official line was massive losses. The verdict at the Emmys revealed it for what it was: Silencing dissent under the guise of balance sheets.
And Hollywood made its verdict clear.
Hannah Einbinder, winner of Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy, ended her acceptance speech in solidarity: “Stephen Colbert and Free Palestine.” She threw an expletive for immigration agency ICE into the mix. Javier Bardem wore a keffiyeh to the red carpet and called for a “Free Palestine”.
In an industry often accused of empty virtue-signalling, this was risky, raw and unvarnished. And it tied Colbert’s fate to a fact: That dissent is still alive in Hollywood, if not in the corporate suites that bankroll it.
Next year, Colbert will sign off for the final time. But this year’s Emmy win will hang in the air as the real story. A cancelled show named the best in its category. A host celebrated by peers, discarded by bosses. Dissent stood tall at the Emmys this year in tuxedos and gowns. Hollywood can take a bow.
stela.dey@indianexpress.com
