Image Credit: Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic.com
For all the exciting upsets at last night’s Emmy Awards, one of the biggest stories to come out of the event focused on something that didn’t even happen: Alec Baldwin’s taped segment for opening sketch, which would have featured a joke about the recent phone-hacking scandal which has engulfed News. Corp (the company that owns the Fox network) and its CEO, Rupert Murdoch. After the joke was cut, Baldwin’s part was re-shot with Leonard Nimoy; Baldwin later tweeted, “Fox did kill my NewsCorp hacking joke. Which sucks bc I think it would have made them look better. A little.” In turn, Fox told EW that corporate connections didn’t affect the choice to cut the joke; the network merely felt it was in poor taste, in light of the serious allegations circling around the case. So just what the heck was the joke, anyways?
Now we know…kind of. Although EW couldn’t learn the exact text of the joke, a source close to the production tells EW that the joke involved the suggestion that Murdoch himself was listening in on a phone call. Alec Baldwin, as the President of Television, was having a phone conversation, when he suddenly expressed indignation that someone might be hacking him, saying something to the effect of “Rupert, is that you?” (The source reiterated to EW that the joke was censored out of a feeling that it wasn’t appropriate to be making light of such a serious matter.) So now you know everything.
Follow Darren on Twitter: @EWDarrenFranich
Read more:
Alec Baldwin explains why he skipped Emmys
Alec Baldwin walks out of Emmys after Fox removes Rupert Murdoch joke
Emmys 2011: Live from the red carpet with EW’s Dave Karger — EXCLUSIVE VIDEO!
Good for you, Alec!
We got Nimoy. So we WIN!!!
Sure, who doesn’t want to see Nimoy?
EW, do a better job of policing SP@M in your comments…
Payback sucks doesn’t it?
Next time, don’t tap people’s phones!
Was Alec Baldwin really going to go with the voicemail/hacking gag? Can you imagine the number of “rude thoughtless pig” routines that would have set off?
And yet that would have made it even funnier.
put the joke up on the utubes…it’ll go viral.
So, when they fire him from 30 Rock maybe Charlie Sheen can be Tina fey’s new boss. You think?
No.
Now why in the world would they fire him?
Charlie Sheen on 30 Rock? Ugh heaven’s no!
Sheen wouldn’t understand humor on TV that didn’t revolve around his penis and a teenager farting.
Love Alec!! Good joke….talk about censorship.
I guarantee if it had been Time-Warner or NBC-Universal involved with the phone hacking scandal, Newscorp wouldn’t have thought “it wasn’t appropriate to be making light of such a serious matter.”
You really showed them Alec!!!!
delusions of grandeur much?
haha oh give me a BREAK that it wasn’t because of the corporate ownership, Fox!
I bet you it has nothing to do with the “sensitivity” of the issue but the fact that Murdoch was name-checked in the joke. We already know the guy has no sense of humor and is an egotistical a**.
Once again, Fox demonstrates that they’re “stupider than your average bear.”
Much ado about nothing.
Thanks for interesting blog post. You guys are always provide information that it makes it impossible not to want to buy your next product ;I can¡¯t wait to see what you guys come up with based on all your research and data that you gather.