Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Monday he understands trying to include humor into awards shows, as he made an appearance on the Emmy Awards himself, but displays such as the one at Sunday night's Grammy Awards are crossing the line.
"I had a little bit of fun on the Emmys," Spicer told Fox News' "Fox & Friends." "I understand the notion trying to inject a little humor into the shows. The bigger pattern isn't that they just become political . . . I think a lot of it crosses the line between funny and mean."
Former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton made a surprise guest appearance on the program in a bit where comedian James Corden, the show's host pretended to cast celebrities for what he thought would be a Grammy contender for spoken word performance next year, reading from Michael Wolff's best-seller "Fire and Fury."
He was not happy with Cher, John Legend, and Snoop Dogg, but then Clinton lowered a copy of the book to reveal herself reading.
"It's very consistent pattern with Hollywood which is that it is funny and 'political' if it is attacking the right," Spicer said. "If it is somehow going the other way, then that's just inappropriate."
Spicer also discussed claims made in Howard Kurtz's new book, "Media Madness: Donald Trump, the Press, and the War over the Truth," in which Kurtz discussed how reporters are showing their biases through their social media profiles.
"I don't know if they think we're blind, don't have Twitter accounts, stuff they say on Twitter or on the phone to you personally . . . more and more, we see especially on Twitter how biased some of these so-called mainstream reporters are," Spicer said.
"When you look at Howie's book, it is very well-sourced," Spicer said. "This is not off one or two people. My understanding, since the time Howie published, additional people have come forward to corroborate that account."
Spicer said he also thinks Trump's opponents will be shocked during Tuesday's State of the Union address, as he will likely "really report back on the state of the union and all that happened over the past year and how well America is doing both domestically, internationally, fight against ISIS, protecting border, how many people's paychecks go up because of the Tax and Jobs Act."
He commented further about the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals issues, saying Democrats should jump on the deal.
"Run down Pennsylvania Avenue, and sign whatever you have to sign, because this is probably the most generous offer that the Democrats are going to get," Spicer said. ". . . I think a lot of people who understand the predicament of people who were brought here at a younger age, but I think that this path to citizenship is something that Democrats didn't think Republican would ever give in on."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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