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Emmy Awards ‘solve’ diversity issue in musical opener - but fans slam lack of diversity among winners

Safeeyah Kazi
Updated

The 70th annual Primetime Emmy Awards addressed the diversity issue in Hollywood with a hilarious musical opener – before handing only three out of 26 awards to non-white stars.

Saturday Night Live hosts Kate McKinnon and Kenan Thompson kicked off the glitzy show with comical number 'We Solved It!' by telling the audience that the issue with diversity in the industry had been “solved”, as a result of the “most diverse group of nominees in Emmy history.”

The duo sang: “We solved it, we’ve gotten with the times, there’s room for all our voices but mostly Shonda Rhimes.”

The pair went on to give a special shout out to the first female Asian nominee for a leading actress Sandra Oh, with Thompson crooning: “There were none, now there’s one. And so we’re done!”

Oh responded: “Thank you but it’s an honour just to be Asian!”

They were then joined on stage by a host of celebrities including Sterling K. Brown, Kristen Bell, Andy Samberg, Ricky Martin and RuPaul, who arrived with a phone call informing Thompson that they hadn’t actually solved anything before they were quickly ushered off stage.

John Legend closed the tongue-in-cheek skit by congratulating everyone on “solving it”.

Despite the show’s attempt to address diversity, it was met with criticism from viewers who blasted the lack of winners from diverse backgrounds after only four non-white nominees ook home prizes.

Regina King scooped Outstanding Lead Actress for Seven Seconds while Thandie Newton took home the gong for Supporting Actress in a Drama for her role in Westworld. Darren Criss was awarded for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series for The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story and RuPaul won Best reality Competition Series for RuPaul's Drag Race.

James Corden attempted to joke about #EmmysSoWhite in relation to Betty White being honoured, but it came under fire from viewers.

One user wrote: “Instead of making fun of the lack of diversity every year during every awards show they could just...make the nominees more diverse.”

Another wrote: “Besides so few POC winning, what's bothering me is James Corden's dismissive joke telling people to tweet #EmmysSoWhite. A lack of diversity and representation is not a punchline.”

A third tweeted: “You can't talk about diversity and the end result is a lack of diversity of the winners in major categories.”