Trump-dominated Emmys draws historically low ratings

Awards show's ratings on par with 2016, the lowest ratings ever

69th Primetime Emmy Awards – Show – Los Angeles, California, U.S., 17/09/2017 - Host Stephen Colbert holds a book as he speaks during the show. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

LOS ANGELES — Some 11.4 million Americans watched Sunday’s prime-time Emmy Awards on television in a ceremony marked by jokes and jibes at President Donald Trump and where “Saturday Night Live” was the biggest winner.

Broadcaster CBS said on Monday that the 2017 audience was in line with that of last year, which attracted a record low of 11.3 million viewers.

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Emmys host Stephen Colbert has ruthlessly attacked Trump on his “The Late Show,” and many of the winners and presenters made barbed comments about Trump and his policies during Sunday’s three-hour ceremony honoring the best of television.

NBC’s satirical sketch show “Saturday Night Live” won nine Emmys, including statuettes for Trump impersonator Alec Baldwin, Melissa McCarthy’s skits on former White House spokesman Sean Spicer, and Kate McKinnon’s turns as losing presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and White House aide Kellyanne Conway.

Spicer, who resigned in July, also made a surprise appearance at Sunday’s ceremony doing an impression of himself, and he later did the rounds of industry after-parties in Los Angeles.