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Politics @ the Emmys

by | Sep 20, 2016 | Analysis, Journalism, Media, Media Monitoring, Politics and Government - US, Public Relations

If you didn’t tune into the Emmys on Sunday, this is what you missed: Game of Thrones broke records, Tatiana Maslany’s win excited Canadians, and stars poked fun at Donald Trump.

Actually, jokes made at the expense of the Donald were a major feature of the event. But while Trump jokes got laughs at the Emmys, Twitter users were less receptive.

Jimmy Kimmel set the tone early, opening Sunday’s event with a series of jokes about the Republican presidential candidate. “Thanks to Mark Burnett, we don’t have to watch reality shows anymore because we’re living in one,” he quipped during his opening monologue.

Kimmel wasn’t alone though. Aziz Ansari joined in and during his acceptance speech, the Master of None actor stated, “Look, it’s an election year and after careful consideration I decided I’m going with Trump, which is why I’m also recommending we get rid of all Muslim and Hispanic nominees from the ceremony immediately…America Ferrera, nice try changing your name to “America”. You’re not fooling anybody. You’re out.”

But, it wasn’t all fun and games where politics were concerned. In a backstage discussion with reporters,  Transparent’s director Jill Soloway, in no joking manner, compared Trump to Hitler and called him “one of the most dangerous monsters.”

Finally, after taking to the stage to accept her award, Kate McKinnon very publicly thanked Hillary Clinton.

The political chatter continued online, with Twitter users often tweeting @hillaryclinton and @realDonaldTrump alongside #Emmys

MediaMiser analyzed a sample of 2,000 tweets from September 18 and 19 which included both the Emmys hashtag and one or both of the candidates’ handles. Of these, 60% contained @hillaryclinton while 40% were directed @realDonaldTrump.

But not every tweet, of course, was one of support. Many of them, even those directed at Clinton’s account, appeared to support Trump.

Politics at the Emmy

In a sample of 200 tweets directed @hillaryclinton we found that 49% of those were in support of Donald Trump.

While many seem to have come out to tweet their support of Trump, the accounts with the most followers were, if not explicitly supportive of Hillary, than certainly less critical.

Politics at the Emmy

Vanity Fair tweeted a link to its article “How Hillary Clinton Became the Hero of Her Own Story on Saturday Night Live”. The article describes the development of portrayals of Hillary Clinton on SNL leading up to her current portrayals by Kate McKinnon.

Responding to Hillary’s congratulatory tweet to McKinnon, The Today Show tweeted about her approval.

Similarly, USA Today further “shared the love” between Hillary Clinton and the SNL actress.

We can’t say whose political campaign got the most support these last two days, but we can say for sure that the presidential elections were a hot topic this Emmys season. The stars enjoyed some laughs, Trump supporters reacted on Twitter, and the media accounts ate up the relationship between Kate McKinnon and Hillary Clinton.

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Chantelle Brule
Chantelle Brule
After receiving her Master's in Communications from Carleton University, Chantelle brought her research experience to Agility's Media Insights team as a data analyst. She's particularly good at what she does.

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