President Trump Lashes Out at Emmys Over Ratings

With the day's UN General Assembly activities over, the president decided to tweet about the awards show.

Late Tuesday evening, President Donald Trump tweeted his sadness at "how bad the ratings were" for Sunday's Emmy Awards.

He described the ratings for CBS' telecast of the awards as "the worst ever," but audience figures show that wasn't exactly true. The ratings, although nothing spectacular, didn't dip to record levels, and were in fact slightly up.

The final audience tally for this year's Emmys, hosted by longtime Trump critic Stephen Colbert, avoided the all-time low 11.3 million viewers that tuned in last year, with the show averaging 11.4 million viewers for the night.

Trump added that his supporters, the "deplorables," were the "smartest people" for not tuning in.

This year's Emmy Awards were particularly political in nature, which has drawn the ire of many conservative politicians and media members. In his monologue, host Colbert reminded the audience and viewers at home of Trump's obsession with the Emmys, as the former reality star has repeatedly tweeted about the show claiming it is "rigged." Colbert said, "We all know the Emmys mean a lot to Donald Trump because he was nominated multiple times for Celebrity Apprentice, but he never won. If he had won an Emmy I bet he wouldn’t have run for president." Sean Spicer, ousted White House press secretary, also made a widely criticized cameo during the opening bit.

A member of the Trump White House, counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway, used a Monday morning appearance on Fox News to argue that the awards have become too political. She also said the show's ratings are "suffering," and that "America is responding by tuning out."

Bill O'Reilly, a frequent Trump defender, said the audience at the Emmy Awards was smug. "It was like, ah, you're just actors and performers," the former Fox News host said on his subscriber podcast on Monday. "That's what you do. You're talented, but then you have no right to radiate superiority and particularly when it comes to politics when most of you don't know anything."