Saturday Night Live Weekend Update co-host Colin Jost has feelings about award shows, and the internet is not happy about them.
On Tuesday, the Los Angeles Times published an interview with Jost and fellow SNL weekender Michael Che, whom Jost will c0-host the Emmys with this September. One of the questions asked of the pair was what they thought of award shows — you know, since they would be hosting one of the year's biggest. While Che stated that he liked "the MTV awards" as a kid, Scarlett Johansson's boyfriend said something a bit more controversial.
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"Eh. I think most of the time they’re way too self-serious and focused on things that 99% of the country doesn’t care about," the host told The Los Angeles Times. "At the end of the day, it’s adults getting trophies. Why should that be taken seriously?"
He also mentioned that he thought the films that won major accolades should be a little bit more fun.
"Remember when movies like Gladiator won Best Picture? Why can’t good, fun things win and not just good artsy things? They’re both good and the fun ones are sometimes a lot harder to make," the SNL star told the outlet.
Fortunately for Jost, the Oscars has announced that it will honor popular films beginning in 2019 in a separate category, much to the ire of many within the film community.
Jost's comments stirred the Twitterverse out of their slumber. They quickly went in on the comments, suggesting it was ridiculous for the comedian to state artful films shouldn't receive accolades.
In summation, my take away from the Annoying Interview is that Colin Jost probably didn’t like MOONLIGHT. Fuck him
— angela (@justokangela) August 14, 2018
And this is why we have bullshit like the "Popular Film Oscar": to appease people like Colin Jost who don't care about recognition of great films because they're not masc and white enough. pic.twitter.com/8xTLkq62C9
— Louis Virtel (@louisvirtel) August 14, 2018
Please someone help, I accidentally appreciated some art, can you please get Colin Jost to come puncture my sense of self importance?
— Joe Reid (@joereid) August 14, 2018
colin jost's favorite movies, ranked:
— Carrie Wittmer?? (@carriesnotscary) August 14, 2018
gladiator
boondock saints
boondock saints
boondock saints
boondock saints
boondock saints
ted 2
Colin Jost is just a loaf of Wonder Bread with a degree from Harvard. pic.twitter.com/YZQbUcOhrD
— Nathan Weinbender (@ntweinbender) August 14, 2018
This interview may not have caused the internet to drag Jost on its own, but coupled with the SNL cast member's comments earlier this week, well — everyone was already worked up.
"It is kind of fun for us to do something that is not political," Jost told Vanity Fair in a recent interview, before adding: "I think that by [the Emmys], people are going to be desperate to give men a chance, finally. It’ll probably be #HeToo by then."
Here's hoping Jost's Emmys gig is received better than his recent interviews.
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