Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer made a surprise appearance at the 2017 Emmy Awards.

SEAN SPICER APPEARS AT EMMY AWARDS

Host Stephen Colbert kept politics at the forefront of the evening as he opened the show with a song and dance. During the opener, Spicer was wheeled out on a moving podium, much like the one Melissa McCarthy used on Saturday Night Live when she portrayed him. “This will be the largest audience to witness an Emmys, period – both in person and around the world,” he joked, referencing the lie he told the American people about how Donald Trump‘s inauguration attracted more people than any other inauguration ever, despite photographic evidence to the contrary.

“That really soothes my fragile ego,” said the host with his hand over his heart. “I can understand why he’d want one of these guys around. Melissa McCarthy everybody, give it up!” McCarthy, in the audience, looked unsure how to react, while Spicer just laughed and shook his head, before being wheeled away.

Overall, people were unimpressed by the move to add Spicer to the show. Spicer’s run in the White House was short-lived and controversial. “Harvard fellowships, Emmy appearances, huge speaking fees: there’s just gonna be no penalty for working in Trump’s White House, huh?” tweeted Jon Favreau. Journalist Kaitlan Collins adds, “Is it supposed to be comical that the former White House spokesman in now tacitly admitting that he lied to the American people? Because, as someone who covers this White House and expects those who work in it to be truthful, I don’t find it humorous.”

Stars and personalities were upset at the Emmys attempts to “normalize Sean Spicer” and allow him to laugh at himself after his work “hurt our country.”

Trying to normalize Sean Spicer already? #Emmys pic.twitter.com/47SEoUKNfj

Trump was roasted throughout the night. Colbert, during his monologue, looked into the camera and told the president it was great to have him watching, and said he would “look forward to the tweets,” mocking Trump for constantly tweeting bad things about shows and people that don’t agree with him. He even said it made sense that Trump never won an Emmy for The Apprentice because “unlike the presidency, Emmys go to the winner of the popular vote.”

Alec Baldwin won an award for his impersonation of Trump on SNL. “I suppose I should say at long last, Mr. President, here is your Emmy,” Baldwin joked during his acceptance speech, referencing Trump’s 2014 tweet that the Emmys are “dishonest.”

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