They say, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say something at all.”
So it’s probably to be expected that the left-leaning Hollywood crowd at the 2025 Emmy Awards on CBS Sunday night steered clear of directly bringing up the shocking assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, whose murder last week has roiled the nation and sparked mourning, reflection, debate and division.
But it’s a bit surprising there weren’t more moderate-sounding appeals for political unification in the wake of the tragedy during a highly turbulent time, even as flags nationwide were flying at half mast.
Politics, in general, were largely absent from the three-hour telecast, though not entirely.
Hacks star Hannah Einbinder, who won an Emmy for best supporting actress in a comedy, concluded her speech by declaring, “Fuck ICE and free Palestine!”
Fellow Hacks star Megan Stalter expressed similar support on the Emmys red carpet by holding a bag which was branded with the words, “CEASE FIRE.”
Presenter Bryan Cranston made a reference to “destructive woke degenerates like Tom Hanks,” referring to President Trump recently slamming the congenial actor.
But few did seem to offer vague-but-hopeful messages that did seem to be inspired by recent events.
Hacks actress Jean Smart won the Emmy for best actress in a comedy and then said simply, “Be good to each other.”
Stephen Colbert, winning the Emmy for best talk series for the first time, ended his speech by saying, “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 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. 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 along with her husband Ted Danson — said, “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 Television Academy Board of Governors Chair Cris Abrego touted the power of TV for bringing 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 umbrage at the omission of any reference to Kirk, one longtime conservative complaint about Hollywood awards shows has been celebrities bringing up politics on stage.
Host Nate Bargatze kept his monologue and other host moments throughout the show controversy free, as he pledged before the show.