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Emmys 2014: Academy Criticized for Objectifying Sofia Vergara with Turntable Skit – Video

Actress was put up on a pedestal to pose, turned into a sexual object

Aug 26, 2014 09:52 GMT  ·  By
Sofia Vergara is placed on a spinning pedestal to strike modeling poses during the Emmys 2014 telecast
   Sofia Vergara is placed on a spinning pedestal to strike modeling poses during the Emmys 2014 telecast

The Emmy Awards 2014 were last night, airing live on NBC from the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. It was the night when the biggest shows, best actors, directors and writers got to see their work in television acknowledged by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and celebrated by their peers.

It was also the night when comedy actress Sofia Vergara, an Emmy nominee and SAG winner herself, was put on a pedestal and spun around, and turned into a sexual object.

As you can see in the video below, Sofia was the one to introduce the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences President Bruce Rosenblum on stage. He held a speech about how television strived to combine a good story with good acting, and ultimately delivered near-flawless entertainment to audiences.

Before the speech though, he asked Sofia to get up on the turntable, and she posed and showed off her ample curves for the camera as he spoke. The funny part about the whole moment was that Rosenblum spoke of giving audiences something intriguing to watch, referring to the good stories on TV, but Sofia was posing her backside off (literally) on the pedestal.

The actress certainly seemed to be amused by the whole skit, but viewers at home were shocked: by putting her on a turntable and having her strike modeling poses, she was literally turned into an object to be admired, gazed at only as you’d look at an object.

She was no longer Sofia Vergara, award-winning comedy actress, but a chunk of meat (dripping in diamonds) on display.

Consequently, Twitter was flooded with outraged messages from viewers, who deemed this the lowest point in an otherwise pompous and rather boring awards gala, and at the same time, a shameless attempt to boost ratings.

We’ll include some of these tweets below, after the GIF of the spinning Sofia and the actual video, so you can see for yourself what people are saying, and then judge if they have any grounds for it.

Sofia, for one, doesn’t see things this way. In fact, if you too feel that this skit was exploitative and cheap, perhaps you should get a sense of humor because you’re missing the point of it.

Cue to Vergara: “I think it’s absolutely the opposite. It means that somebody can be hot and also be funny and make fun of herself. I think it’s ridiculous that somebody started this – I know who she was –who has no sense of humor [and should] lighten up a little bit.”