If you felt cheated by Richard Mattox’s “5 Biggest Snubs” article last week when the Emmy nominations were revealed, I’ve got your fix. Or at least a taste.
Over on Nikki Finke’s recently unveiled website, nikkifinke.com, the Queen of Snark allowed Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter a soapbox to vent his conflicting feelings on his FX show being passed over once again for any nominations in the major Emmy awards categories (the show was nominated for Original Song.)
Sutter’s conflicts seem to stem from wanting to have his cake and eat it too. One of the appeals to the show by it’s fans (of which I am a former member) is that the series is so counter-culture and bad-ass that “we don’t need no stinking awards”. Sutter wears that badge with honor yet admits that it would be nice to be recognized by his peers.
Honestly – and I actually believe this – I think we’d drop viewers if ‘Sons of Anarchy‘ were ever nominated for an Emmy. My bombastic outlaw-asshole reputation would be tarnished.
…
That’s not to say that I don’t want to win an Emmy. I absolutely do. More than anything. Any artist who tells you they don’t want to be acknowledged and awarded by their peers is a fat fucking liar.
These are the same peers that he calls-out who vote more out of loyalty than objectivity. (This is so true by the way. During an Oscar season years ago, I asked a friend who she was voting for in the Best Actor category. She replied she’d vote for her friend. I asked if she saw his film, and she said she hadn’t yet, but he just “deserves one”. I mentioned that he already won one a few years prior and she just said. “Well, then he should get another one.” I had already stopped paying attention to award ceremonies a couple of years before that, but after that conversation, it really solidified for me that all these big award shows are crap.)
Kurt Sutter’s bigger issue is Hollywood. He has created a great show. His opinion about other nominated shows having lost their way after 3 season while his continues to flourish is debateable. Like I mentioned, I am a former fan. Sutter clearly wants to be a member of the popular kids club and still hold onto his bad boy image. But with Sons of Anarchy is overflowing with violence, sex, rape, drugs, guns plus enough testosterone to make Lena Dunham beg to be stay-at-home mom, it’s going to be a long time before the PC stooges of tinseltown give you an award. He posted his article on Nikki Finke’s website, which means he really should have had more guts to call-out these Hollywood cronies and name names other than a childhood nemesis. Instead, he just drops f-bombs and jokes about killing puppies. If he going to call himself an “outlaw-asshole” at least write like one.
Long live Opie.
