Anthony Anderson, who is set to host tonight’s Emmy Awards, has weighed in on Jo Koy’s performance at last week’s Golden Globes.
In the days since Koy’s widely-panned hosting job, the 52-year-old stand-up comedian has apologised for throwing his writers under the bus during his monologue.
Reacting to the outcry, Anderson told Fox News: “Everyone’s entitled to their opinion. There’s going to be criticism.”
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The host and Black-ish star added: “No matter if you do great, if you do bad. You can’t please everyone.
“But it’s a job that needs to be done. It’s a job suited for the best to do it,” Anderson continued. “The Academy, the Emmys, the Oscars, the Golden Globes – they pick who they feel is best to do the job. And that’s what we do.”
Anderson’s comments come after comedian Kevin Hart told Sky News that he has no interest in hosting an awards show.
“Those gigs aren’t good gigs for comics,” Hart said. “It’s no shot to the Oscars, no shot to the Globes or anything else. Those just aren’t comedy-friendly environments anymore.”
Emmys host Anthony Anderson (left) and Golden Globes host Jo Koy— (Getty)
Anderson has himself proved a controversial choice to host the Emmys, after a string of sexual assault allegations sparked a backlash.
The Sexual Violence Prevention Association have demanded that Fox remove Anderson as host and implored both the Emmys and Fox “to do better due diligence when selecting hosts in the future”.
Unlike Koy, who was a newcomer to awards shows, Anderson has a decade of experience to inform his role at the Emmys.
He served as host of the NAACP Image Awards for nine consecutive years from 2014 to 2022 – making him the longest-running host in that ceremony’s history – and he has filled in for Jimmy Kimmel on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, James Corden on The Late Late Show with James Corden and Ellen DeGeneres on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
This year’s Emmys frontrunner is considered to be HBO’s Succession, which leads the nominations with a whopping 14 acting nominations and is a strong contender for Outstanding Drama Series (an award it has won twice before).
Read the full list of Emmys nominees here. The 75th Primetime Emmy Awards will be held on Monday 15 January, telecast live for US viewers on the Fox network starting at 8pm ET/5pm PT, and available to stream the following day on Hulu.
