Kathy Griffin’s Emmy acceptance speech, which was taped, will be edited before it airs on the upcoming E! channel broadcast. E! will show the taped portion of the Emmys on Saturday, though the prime time Emmys will be broadcast live on FOX Sunday night. In a Monday statement, The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences called Griffin’s remarks “offensive” and said they would not be part of the E! telecast. Here’s what Griffin said: “A lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus.” She then held up her word and announced, “This award is my god now!” Religious critics are already calling Griffin’s words a “hate speech” and “blasphemous.” 

Okay. Let me state here and now that I am not, nor have I ever been, a Kathy Griffin fan. But in this, I am totally in her corner. There are at least four hundred things Griffin might have said in her speech that would have been more offensive than a joke about other celeb acceptance speeches – which are indeed usually boring, long-winded, and filled with references to God. As if God watches reality TV. Through the years, The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has been more influenced by ratings and less by God, so let’s not start acting pious now. Remember, these are the same people who thought to give an award to Kathy Griffin for her D-list reality series in the first place – and don’t get me started on all the other trash that’s currently being shown on my TV. I have seen everything on the E! network from Heffner’s playmates to spoiled little rich girls to quasi-celebrity couples to Anna Nicole Smith at her worst – let’s not pretend to be big fans of Jesus when E! truly worships shows like Dr. 90210. I’m sure plenty of religious groups would argue that plastic surgery, in effect changing what God hath wrought, is a mortal sin. If an off-color joke about religion is the worst thing the Emmy broadcast has to worry about, talk to MTV. There’s a cable channel with serious award show problems.