They say, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." So, it's perhaps no surprise that the left-leaning Hollywood crowd at the 2025 Emmy Awards on CBS Sunday night opted to steer clear of mentioning the shocking assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. His murder last week had sent shockwaves through the nation, sparking mourning, reflection, and fierce debate.
However, it was somewhat unexpected that there weren't more moderate-sounding calls for unity in the wake of the tragedy, such as appeals for everyone to "come together."
That's not to say politics were entirely absent from the three-hour telecast from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. Hannah Einbinder, the star of "Hacks" who won an Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy, concluded her acceptance speech with a bold declaration: "Fuck ICE and free Palestine!" Fellow "Hacks" star Megan Stalter echoed similar sentiments on the Emmys red carpet, carrying a bag emblazoned with the words, "CEASE FIRE." Presenter Bryan Cranston even made a joking reference to "destructive woke degenerates like Tom Hanks," alluding to President Trump's recent criticism of the beloved actor.
A few presenters did offer vague yet hopeful messages that might have been inspired by recent events, though they could just as easily have been referring to Trump's controversial policies. Jean Smart, the "Hacks" actress who won the Emmy for Best Actress in a Comedy, simply said, "Be good to each other." Stephen Colbert, winning the Emmy for Best Talk Series for the first time, ended his speech on a reflective note: "Ten years ago, in September of 2015, Spike Jonze stopped by my office and said, 'Hey, what do you want this show to be about?' And I said, 'Spike, I don't know how you could do it, but I kind of like to do a late-night comedy show that was about love.' I don't know if I ever fully figured that out, but at a certain point — and you can guess what that point was — I realized that in some ways, we were doing a late-night comedy show about loss. And that's related to love. Because sometimes you only truly know how much you love something when you get a sense that you might be losing it. Ten years later, in September 2025, my friends, I have never loved my country more desperately. God bless America! Stay strong. Be brave. And if the elevator tries to bring you down, go crazy and punch a higher floor."
Mary Steenburgen, while accepting the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award alongside her husband Ted Danson, said poignantly, "Life is made up of two emotions: love and fear. The world is a little out of balance right now. We don't want to live in fear. So we make ourselves useful for organizations that move this scale away from fear and put it smack dab in the middle of love."
And Cris Abrego, Chair of the Television Academy Board of Governors, extolled the power of TV to bring people together. "At a time when division dominates the headlines, storytelling still has the power to unite us," he said. "All of us in this room must continue to champion that power and wield it responsibly in moments like this. Neutrality is not enough. We must be voices for connection, inclusion, and empathy because we know that culture doesn't come from the top down, it rises from the bottom up."
While some on the right might take offense at the omission of any reference to Kirk, one longstanding conservative complaint about Hollywood awards shows has been celebrities bringing up politics on stage. Host Nate Bargatze, however, kept his monologue and other host moments throughout the show entirely free of politics, as he had pledged before the event.
The family-friendly Christian comedian had previously told Fox News about hosting the awards: "I want it to be a night that's fun. The comics that [make controversial jokes], they're great at it, and I can't do what they do. And, so, I just want this night to be — I hope that it's just, I don't know, as relaxing as it can be... I don't get political because it doesn't really matter. It doesn't matter what religion you are. It doesn't matter what your politics are. I don't think I need to guide you in any direction. I can tell you who I am. This is why I tend to be that way, and then I steer it in a direction that welcomes everybody. Whether you're not a Christian or you're conservative or Democrat or whatever you are, that's not what this is about."
