Near the beginning of the 69th annual Primetime Emmy Awards last night, host Stephen Colbert hauled former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer onstage to declare that the CBS-broadcast show would have “the largest audience to witness an Emmys, period — both in person and around the world.”
Coming off the all-time ratings low of last year’s Jimmy Kimmel-fronted ceremony, the gag and the Donald Trump inauguration-inspired boasts were a hopeful and it seems hollow plea for Colbert’s awards show hosting and debut.
Sunday’s Emmys took repeated aim at Trump, the former Celebrity Apprentice host and past nominee, and combined with facing a Green Bay Packers game on NBC’s Sunday Night Football again, the POTUS-bashing Emmys were knocked down to a new low – at least in the early numbers.