Emmy Controversy Over Plane Crash Skit

The General Manager of Lexington, Kentucky’s NBC affiliate criticized the opening skit of Sunday’s Emmy Awards as insensitive and tasteless.
The prerecorded opening segment began with Emmy host Conan O'Brien boarding a private plane to Los Angeles. Asked by a stewardess if he was nervous about hosting the show, O'Brien answered "Nervous? What could possibly go wrong?"

The plane then shook and pitched violently, sending O'Brien out of his seat and seeking shelter in an overhead baggage compartment.

The skit didn't show the plane crashing. Instead, it cut to O'Brien emerging from the ocean onto an island resembling the one in Lost, where he meets a cast member.
While a skit parodying the ever-popular Lost series seems like prime material, a tragedy early Sunday day put things in a different light. Hours before the show, a plane crash in Kentucky killed forty-nine people.
"It was a live telecast. We were completely helpless," Tim Gilbert was quoted as saying on the Lexington Herald-Leader's Web site.

"By the time we began to react, it was over. At the station, we were as horrified as they were at home," Gilbert said.
Gilbert claimed he expects an apology from NBC for the tasteless skit.
"They could have killed the opening and it wouldn't have hurt the show at all," Gilbert said. "We wish somebody had thought this through. It's somewhere between ignorance and incompetence.”
Gilbert got his wish: NBC executives issued a formal apology.
"Our hearts and prayers go out to the many families who lost loved ones in the plane crash in Kentucky on Sunday, and to the entire community that has suffered this terrible loss," NBC said in a statement the day after the ceremony.

"In no way would we ever want to make light of this terrible tragedy," NBC said. "The filmed opening during the Emmy telecast was meant to spoof some of television's most well-known scenes. The timing was unfortunate, and we regret any unintentional pain it may have caused."
In case you missed it, here’s the skit in question.

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