Hollywood awards shows — ever more frequent — are an exercise in self-adulation.
Stunts by celebs who are simply dying to be seen as ever more “daring” are enough to give folks in the rest of America a migraine from all the eye-rolling.
That is, if they’re watching at all.
Fewer and fewer people are tuning in to the self-congratulatory charades on TV, which increasingly take aim at traditional sensibilities.
One co-host of the Emmy Awards is now brave enough to address the elephant in the room: These pageants are becoming irrelevant, period.
Colin Jost (shown above left), a head co-writer at “Saturday Night Live,” explained why most Americans are skipping awards shows like the Emmys and Oscars.
“I think most of the time they’re way too self-serious and focused on things that 99 percent of the country doesn’t care about,” Jost said in a Los Angeles Times interview, which he did alongside fellow “SNL” head co-writer Michael Che (shown above right).
He added, “It’s adults getting trophies. Why should that be taken seriously?”
Jost also said awards shows have stopped recognizing popular films — while favoring pretentious ones.
“Remember when movies like ‘Gladiator’ won Best Picture?” he said. “Why can’t good, fun things win and not just good artsy things? They’re both good, and the fun ones are sometimes a lot harder to make.”
Related: Why Hollywood Awards Shows Don’t Really Matter
The Oscars recently adopted the Popular Film category due in part to criticisms like Jost’s, along with a desire to boost its flagging ratings.
The “SNL” performer’s critique was not universally well-received, The Hollywood Reporter pointed out.
“Please someone help, I accidentally appreciated some art, can you please get Colin Jost to come puncture my sense of self-importance?” a critic wryly complained.
“What if Colin Jost is singlehandedly responsible for the popular film Oscar?” another facetiously speculated.
It’s almost as if they’re trying to help make Colin Jost’s point about how arrogant and out of touch Hollywood has become.
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