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Trump says he was ‘saddened’ by ‘worst ever’ Emmy ratings

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump has weighed in on the Emmys, which were heavy on humour and swipes at his expense.

US President Donald Trump takes part in a toast during a luncheon hosted by the Secretary General of the United Nations in New York, US, Sept 19, 2017. Photo: Reuters

US President Donald Trump takes part in a toast during a luncheon hosted by the Secretary General of the United Nations in New York, US, Sept 19, 2017. Photo: Reuters

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WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump has weighed in on the Emmys, which were heavy on humour and swipes at his expense.

“I was saddened to see how bad the ratings were on the Emmys last night — the worst ever. Smartest people of them all are the ‘DEPLORABLES’,” he wrote on Twitter on Tuesday night (Sept 19), two days after Sunday’s Primetime Emmy Awards telecast.

The US President is in New York, staying at Trump Tower, during the United Nations General Assembly.

The Emmys, broadcast by CBS, were about on par with last year’s ceremony in terms of total viewers. Sunday’s awards ceremony averaged 11.4 million viewers, compared to 2016’s 11.3 million, its lowest ever. The telecast also averaged a 2.5 rating in adults 18-49, dropping below last year’s low point of a 2.8.

Host Stephen Colbert spent part of his monologue skewering Mr Trump’s own fixation with the Emmys, including his past tweets that disparaged the awards handed out by the Television Academy after he failed to win any Emmy trophies for The Apprentice. In a tweet from 2013, Mr Trump cited political bias for his lack of Emmy wins.

Kellyanne Conway, counsellor to the president, criticised the “politicised” show for the “sameness” of the attacks on Mr Trump.

“It looks like Americans are tuning out,” she said on Fox & Friends.

Then she addressed stars who appeared on the stage. “They want you to stick to your knitting. They want you to stick to the stuff that other people write for you.”

She did, however, praise Sean Spicer for his Emmy cameo, in which he made fun of his own post-inauguration press conference in which he chided the media never its reporting on Mr Trump’s inaugural crowd size. Mr Spicer’s appearance has drawn a backlash from Trump detractors who criticised Colbert and Emmy producers for milking laughs out of a political operative who had been a champion of Mr Trump’s polarising agenda.

“This is something that folks in Hollywood often lack — which is introspection and good humour,” Ms Conway said of Mr Spicer.

Mr Trump spoke at the UN earlier on Tuesday in a speech in which he said that the US would “totally destroy” North Korea if the US is “forced to defend itself or its allies”. VARIETY.COM/REUTERS

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