Barack Obama received an Emmy Award on Saturday for his work on the Netflix documentary series, “Our Great National Parks.” Obama narrated the five-part documentary series.
He’s halfway to an EGOT, CBS News notes. EGOT is the category of entertainers who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony. There have been 17 people to accomplish that to date. It won’t be surprising if the entertainment industry makes it happen for Barack Obama. They’ve indulged his celebrity-wannbe tendencies and have made him a very wealthy man. The Netflix deal with the Obamas is said to be worth up to $50M, though the final amount was never disclosed. Not bad for two people with no experience with producing, screenwriting, directing, or any other aspect of the entertainment business.
We have to go back to 1956 to note another American president that received an Emmy. Dwight Eisenhower was honored with the academy’s first Governors Award in recognition of his use and encouragement of television in March 1956.
It was Joe Biden who described Barack Obama as “articulate” when he ran against him in the 2008 Democrat presidential primary. Maybe we shouldn’t question the recognition for his narration abilities.
Joe Biden is set to launch his second run for the presidency today but it will likely be overshadowed by some candid comments made in an interview with Jason Horowitz of the New York Observer.
Most noteworthy is what he says about Barack Obama: “I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” he said. “I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”
Joe Biden is known for sticking his foot in his mouth and frequently showing his inner racist. Needless to say, Biden got nowhere fast in his second attempt to be the Democrat nominee, just as happened in 1988.
Eisenhower was presented with his award while still in office. Obama is the first American president to win a competitive award for a specific television project. He had some fairly strong competition.
Obama nabbed the Outstanding Narrator award at tonight’s Creative Arts Emmy ceremony, beating Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Black Patriots: Heroes of the Civil War), David Attenborough (The Mating Game), W. Kamau Bell (We Need to Talk About Cosby) and Lupita Nyong’o (Serengeti II) in a star-studded category.
He was also previously nominated for a News and Documentary Emmy in 2016 for David Attenborough Meets President Obama.
Obama wasn’t present at the awards and the Academy accepted on his behalf after RuPaul presented the category.
Higher Ground, the Obamas’ production company produced Our Great National Parks. The purpose of the documentary series was to spotlight national parks around the world. Locations included Monterey Bay National Marine Aquarium in California, Tsavo, Kenya, and Gunung Leuser National Park in Indonesia. Those locations all have a connection to Barack Obama. He lives, at least part-time, in California, he is of Kenyan ancestry, and he grew up partly in Indonesia. Everything Obama does is all about him, right? The series launched in April. It is part of the Obamas’ multi-year film and television deal.
The Creative Arts Emmy Awards are being held this weekend, on Saturday and Sunday nights. An edited presentation will be broadcast on Saturday, September 10. The 74th Emmy Awards is scheduled for Monday, September 12.
Two people who were frozen out of Emmy awards were comedians Dave Chappelle and Norm Macdonald. Both men were nominated in the category for Outstanding Variety Special Emmy. Singer Adele won the category.
Adele: One Night Only featured the British songstress singing songs from her new album at Griffith Observatory in LA. Presented by Oprah Winfrey, it aired in November.
Adele: One Night Only beat Dave Chappelle: The Closer, Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return To Hogwarts, Norm Macdonald: Nothing Special and One Last Time: An Evening With Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga.
The win marks a genuine surprise given the strong competition, particularly from Macdonald’s posthumous special for Netflix as well as Chappelle’s controversial special. It was a washout for Chappelle, as his special was also beaten by Adele’s in the Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special category with Stan Lathan losing out to Paul Dugdale.
Imagine if Chappelle had won an Emmy Award for his Netflix special, The Closer, that set off the LGBTQ extremists. When the news surfaced online – because no one has seen the award ceremony yet – the perpetually outraged wokesters would have lost their minds. It sure would have made a lot of people from all walks of life happy, though.
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