Between them, Oprah Winfrey and Ellen DeGeneres have won 11 Daytime Emmy awards as best talk show host. They won’t add to that total this year, by their own choice.
DeGeneres took herself out of consideration for the award for the first time since starting her show.
“I feel my steroid use gives me an unfair advantage,” DeGeneres joked in a statement on her website on Wednesday.
Winfrey hasn’t submitted her work since winning her seventh Emmy and a lifetime achievement award in 1999.
There may be generosity behind the gestures, to give fellow entertainers the chance to stand on stage holding an award. It could also water down the award’s meaning, with the knowledge that National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences members are not truly evaluating the best in the field.
Think of the American League starting a season with the knowledge that the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox have decided that, no matter how well they do, they won’t participate in the World Series.
This year’s talk show nominees, announced Wednesday, are Rachael Ray, Bonnie Hunt, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Regis Philbin & Kelly Ripa and the five stars of “The View.”
(Source: HuffingtonPost.com)
