Scott Frank’s Emmy acceptance speech may have finally ended, but the controversy surrounding the Queen’s Gambit EP’s marathon address rages on.
In an interview with our sister pub Variety, Emmy telecast producer Ian Stewart joined the chorus of critics denouncing Frank for the lengthy speech he delivered on Sunday after winning the limited series directing prize. (Frank ignored multiple cues from the orchestra to wrap up his three-plus minute oration.)
“It’s a simple equation,” Stewart fumed. “These people are professionals. They understand what’s going on, it’s their industry. It’s not a sports awards. So they know what they are doing and the simple fact is, they know there’s only a finite amount of time. I’d love them to be able to speak for half an hour if they wanted to. But we don’t have that time. So it’s a simple equation. If you think that you have to speak for four or five minutes, that means somebody else can’t. It’s just incredibly disrespectful to your fellow nominees.”
Asked why he didn’t just mute Frank’s mic, Stewart explained, “You don’t know what they’re about to say. That’s the problem with cutting the mic or playing the play off music over them, when they may be saving the very poignant thing to say to the end, and you’ll just ruin the moment for them.
“It’s a very tricky balance to achieve,” the EP added. “What you sort of hope is that at least when they hear the music, which wasn’t overpowering, they’d say, ‘ OK, my time is up, I probably should get off here.’ As I say, just out of respect to your fellow nominees, there’s just a thing called time. And there’s only a finite amount of it.”
TVLine has reached out to Frank’s rep for comment.
