Andrew Cuomo’s Emmy Award for His COVID-19 Briefings Is a Disgusting Prioritization of Style Over Substance – By Christian Britschgi (Reason) / Nov 20 2020
The New York governor is getting a shiny award for playing a good governor on TV.
He’s presided over the second most deadly COVID-19 outbreak in the country. He’s implemented draconian lockdown restrictions that have devastated small businesses. He’s fought with and mocked reporters trying to get basic answers to simple questions. Now, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) will get an Emmy.
On Friday, the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced that Cuomo would be receiving the organization’s International Emmy Founders Award, which “celebrates the accomplishments of an individual or organization, whose work is recognized throughout the world” and which crosses “cultural boundaries to touch our common humanity.”
Past recipients include Oprah Winfrey, Al Gore, and Steven Spielberg. Cuomo will join this illustrious group because of the daily news briefings he’s given during COVID-19 in which the governor describes how terribly the pandemic is going in his state and what new restrictions on businesses and individuals his administration will impose.
“The Governor’s 111 daily briefings worked so well because he effectively created television shows, with characters, plot lines, and stories of success and failure,” said International Academy President & CEO Bruce L. Paisner in a press release announcing the award. “People around the world tuned in to find out what was going on, and New York tough became a symbol of the determination to fight back.”
