DVR and protest is the woke Netflix and chill. TV is a distraction, how about some action, indeed.
Stephen Colbert’s opening song and dance number at the 69th Emmy Awards featured any number of shoutouts to the nominated TV shows and cameos from the nominated actors and actresses. As, you know, the filmed intro typically does. But part way through, it also featured an appearance from Chicago ambassador and beloved celebrity-of-the-people Chance the Rapper.
During his bit, Chance called TV a “pleasant distraction” which seemed to be in line with the segment’s goal of walking a line between applauding TV and admitting that there are more important things than TV. As such, Chance’s rap ended with a call to record that TV show finale and attend a protest instead. Your favorite TV shows — including all of those nominated for awards — will still be there when you get back. Or in Chance the Rapper’s words, “I love TV, it’s a pleasant distraction, but just imagine taking action.”
It wasn’t the first part of the show that got political, either. Before the song even kicked off, Anthony Anderson (“Anthony Anderson from Black-ish!”) was referencing how Colbert was doing really great work for white people and Allison Janney (“Allison Janney from Mom!”) called out how HBO is bringing back the Confederacy. (We’re all boycotting HBO, just after Game of Thrones end, of course.)
See the whole segment below.
The Stephen Colbert-Chance the Rapper bromance is a national treasure #Emmys! pic.twitter.com/qrWJCL39JJ
— Gary Phillips (@GaryHPhillips) September 18, 2017
Chance has a good reason to be so pro-Emmys. After all, he was nominated for “Jingle Barack,” a song he co-wrote for Saturday Night Live.
Stephen Colbert’s opening monologue only got more political from there and included a number of Donald Trump jokes, as well as the appearance of Sean Spicer (yes, really) cracking jokes about the size of the crowd. (Honestly: Should have used Melissa McCarthy. She already won for that performance and let’s not normalize Spicer, okay?)
Next: Follow along with the live winners of the 2017 Emmys
The Emmy Awards continue. Watch on CBS or stream through CBS All Access.