Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer appeared at the 2017 Emmys on Sunday in a gag bit with host Stephen Colbert. He jokingly echoed the falsehood he told about the number of people who watched President Donald Trump's inauguration in January.
Audience members seemed shocked and amused.
But many people on Twitter criticized the awards show — and the Hollywood heavyweights who chuckled with and applauded Spicer.
If u think that Spicer should be allowed to participate in anything but an apology, you really dont understand anything&im bummed about you.
I'm not ready to laugh "with" Sean Spicer. I think he is an evil, opportunistic liar that hurt our country.
Sean Spicer was the first Trump official post-inauguration to lie to the American people & treat our free press as the enemy. Fuck. Him.
Sean Spicer was worth millions BEFORE he signed on to lie for an actively evil administration. he's not a benign schmo, he's an awful person
Shame on the Emmys for the Spicer validation. He is dedicated to demeaning our craft and restricting our freedoms of speech. #Unforgivable
As Deray would say, watch whiteness work to normalize Sean Spicer! COME! ON!
In the press room, Alec Baldwin, who won an Emmy for impersonating Trump on SNL, told reporters, "I think that people in the business, the average person, is very grateful for him to have a sense of humor and participate."
The Television Academy did not immediately respond to BuzzFeed News' request for a comment.
UPDATE
In an interview with the New York Times, Spicer said the gag was “an attempt to poke a little fun at myself and add a little bit of levity to the event.” He also said it was Colbert who suggested the idea.