“Saturday Night Live” stars Michael Che and Colin Jost opened the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards by letting their famous friends do the talking, or shall we say, singing.
Celebrities, including Kate McKinnon, Kenan Thompson, Kristen Bell and John Legend, launched into a tongue-in-cheek number about the unprecedented diversity at the awards show to kick off the ceremony at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California on Monday night. RuPaul even had a brief cameo.
“We solved it!” the group proudly proclaimed about Hollywood’s diversity problem, while giving a special shoutout to nominee Sandra Oh.
“Thank you but it’s an honor... just to be Asian,” she shot back.
After the number, which concluded with everybody realizing awards show still have a long way to go, the “Weekend Update” co-anchors took the stage. The duo cracked jokes about a variety of topics, including the canceled “Roseanne” revival and the Me Too movement. They made special mention of Ronan Farrow, who’s broken a slew of stories about sexual abuses in Hollywood.
The monologue appeared to play well with the crowd. However, both Jost and Che alienated some audiences ahead of the ceremony.
First, Jost described awards shows as “too self-serious” and “focused on things that 99 percent of the country doesn’t care about” in a poorly received Los Angeles Times interview that left many wondering why he was hosting one.
Weeks later, Che faced backlash for defending Louis C.K. for returning to stand-up less than a year after admitting to multiple instances of sexual misconduct.
TV fans were tweeting along on social media and offered their own opinions on whether Che and Jost did the Emmys proud.
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