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Bardem continued by shouting out Film Workers for Palestine, a group that recently released a pledge, signed by stars including Bardem, Emma Stone, Ayo Edebiri, and Olivia Colman, to boycott Israeli film institutions “implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people.”
“We don’t target people by their identity. That’s absolutely wrong; nobody said that,” Bardem said. “We target film companies and institutions that are complicit and are whitewashing or justifying Israel’s genocide and its apartheid regime. That’s what we’re targeting—not to stand with those who oppress people.”
While talking with Variety on the red carpet, Bardem said that he was “hopeful” for a brighter future in these incredibly bleak times: “There have been so many deaths and children being murdered that the world is waking up.”
Not every political moment at the Emmys had to do with Israel and Palestine. After being introduced by This Is Us star Justin Hartley, the chairman of the Television Academy, Cris Abrego, shed light on the recent shuttering of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. “At the end of this year, CPB will close its doors because Congress has voted to defund it,” Abrego said, to loud boos from the audience. Abrego went on to remind viewers of television’s ability to “bend that arc of history towards justice.”
“Neutrality is not enough. We must be voices for connection, inclusion, empathy,” he continued. “We know that culture doesn’t come from the top down; it rises from the bottom up. Culture belongs to the people. So if our industry is to thrive, we need to make room for more voices, not fewer.”
The political moment of the evening, however, belonged to Stephen Colbert. The host of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on CBS received a standing ovation as he presented the first award of the evening. A vocal critic of President Donald Trump, Colbert’s top-rated late-night show was shockingly canceled by CBS as the network’s parent company, Paramount, waited for the Federal Communications Commission to greenlight a multibillion-dollar merger with Skydance. “Is anyone hiring?” Colbert quipped before shouting out the 200 Late Show staff members who will be out of a job after his late-night series comes to an end in May.
Members of other late-night programs spread the love to Colbert, like the team from Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, who took home the award for outstanding writing for a variety series. Senior writer Daniel O’Brien opened his speech by saying, “We share this category with all writers of late-night political comedy—while that is still a type of show that’s allowed to exist.”
The love in the room for Colbert and his program was palpable even before The Late Show was announced as the winner of outstanding talk series. After that envelope was opened, Colbert received the loudest applause of the night as well as the biggest standing ovation of the evening. As Colbert made his way onto the stage, there were audible chants of “Stephen! Stephen!” filling the room.
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Chris Murphy
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