A joke involving Sofia Vergara rotating on a pedestal at the 66th Emmy Awards Monday night has caused outrage across social media for its blatant objectification of women.
Colombian-born “Modern Family” actress Sofia Vergara was literally put on a pedestal at the television awards ceremony to accompany the speech of Bruce Rosenblum, chairman and CEO of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
Rosenblum’s speech celebrated television’s diversity and the fact that “television has and always will be about great storytelling,” as Vergara gently patted her curvaceous behind.
See the disaster unfold
While there was an obvious-tongue-in-cheek element to Rosenblum’s supposedly progressive speech – juxtaposed with the objectification of one of television’s most highly paid actresses – many viewers took to social media to express their outrage over what they viewed as “sexist humor.”
A woman wins for writing the best hour of tv this yr. Sophia Vergara on a rotating ass podium. It’s weird being a girl, y’all. #Emmys2014
— megbon (@megbon) August 26, 2014
Dear #Emmys That sexist objectification of Sophia Vergara, with bonus rehashing racist Latin Bombshell stereotypes is not cool.
— Stephan Pennington (@stephanPhD) August 26, 2014
I wish they did that rotating Sofia Vergara joke with a guy. — kelly oxford (@kellyoxford) August 26, 2014
“Smile, and be objectified!” – Producers of the Emmy’s to Sophia Vergara.
— Dom (@DomPerinyon) August 26, 2014
“It’s absolutely the opposite,” said Vergara in response to criticism that it was a sexist gag. “It means that somebody can be hot and also be funny and make fun of herself.” Apparently, everyone needs to just “lighten up a little bit,” according to Vergara, reported Entertainment Weekly.
Writer Kelly Oxford’s comment (“I wish they did that rotating Sofia Vergara joke with a guy”) points out a modest oversight: if the Emmy Awards were genuinely trying to poke fun at how women are objectified in popular culture and in the media, they could have put a handsome man on the pedestal instead.
Sources
- Sofia Vergara blasts critics of ‘sexist’ Emmy pedestal (Entertainment Weekly)