Gov. Andrew Cuomo will receive Emmy for COVID-19 TV briefings
And the Emmy for Best Acting as a Sitting Governor goes to …
Gov. Andrew Cuomo — who’s been blamed for letting the deadly coronavirus run rampant in New York’s nursing homes — is set to receive an International Emmy award for his daily TV briefings about the disease.
But it won’t be for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Real-Life Drama.
Instead, Cuomo will be recognized for his “effective use of television during the pandemic,” the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced Friday.
“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 Bruce Paisner, president and CEO of the International Academy.
“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.”
Cuomo will be presented with the International Emmys’ “Founders Award” during an event that will be live-streamed on Monday, the academy said.
In an ironic twist, the announcement came just two days after Cuomo called a reporter “obnoxious and offensive in your tone” for asking whether New York City’s public schools would remain open amid rising infection rates.
Cuomo has faced unrelenting, bipartisan criticism over a Health Department directive that forced nursing homes to accept “medically stable” COVID-19 patients discharged from hospitals.
The since-rescinded policy is under review by the US Justice Department, which in October ramped up its probe by asking the state to hand over a breakdown of hospital deaths.
The information, which officials have refused to make public, could dramatically increase the official tally of nursing home residents who were killed by the virus, which is now around 6,700.
In August, The Associated Press estimated the actual death toll could be as high as 11,000.
Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens) — whose uncle, Son Kim, died in a Flushing nursing home in April after suffering symptoms of COVID-19 — called Cuomo’s Emmy “another demoralizing moment.”
“I’ve never heard of anything like this in my entire life,” he said.
“He’s getting all the credit to celebrate his win, and I think it’s just wrong. There’s too many people struggling still for him to be taking a victory lap.”
US Rep. Tom Reed, a Republican who represents the upstate area around Corning, called the award a “sick joke” and said it explained why “so many Americans are fed up with Hollywood elites.”
“The Governor’s refusal to use these briefings to answer basic questions, including New York’s disastrous nursing home policies that killed thousands of our state’s grandparents and parents, is not worth celebrating,” Reed said.
City Councilman Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island) also said that “this is like giving Bill Buckner the Gold Glove Award” for his crucial error in the 1986 World Series, when the Boston Red Sox first baseman let an easy ground ball pass through his legs — leading to a Mets comeback and championship.
State Republican Chairman Nick Langworthy called the award “proof positive that Hollywood lives in its own alternative reality” and “offensive to so many families that lost loved ones in New York.”
“Gov. Cuomo definitely deserves an award for best actor in the fictional storylines that he’s created declaring himself a great leader,” Langworthy said.
“Maybe he’ll also win an award for Most Deaths on a Governor’s Watch? Most Businesses and Jobs Killed? How about Most Power Hungry Dictator?”
Cuomo’s briefings on the coronavirus included some frightening moments, like when he appeared shaken April 9 while announcing the state’s death toll had topped 7,000.
Others took strange detours, including when he revealed that everyone living in the Executive Mansion was “movie probation” for picking duds to watch on TV — and then noted that his dog, Captain, “is out of sorts, too.”
During a Friday afternoon briefing, Cuomo said he’d already created an “acceptance video” for the virtual awards ceremony, noting, “I thanked the academy — which I got a real kick out of.”
Cuomo also claimed that receiving the award — which puts him in the company of celebrities including Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg — was “flattering for the people of the state.”
“I think their participation in the daily presentation was amazing, you know, we had over 64 million people participate,” he crowed.