For someone who is as appreciative and involved in the video medium of art, it’s kind of surprising that I don’t find time to watch the Emmys each year. Perhaps it’s just my general dislike of award shows in general, but I can never do it.

That’s not to say that I don’t look up the winners afterward, though.

While I’m pleased to see that Donald Glover and “The Handmaid’s Tale” both took home some awards, I eventually stumbled upon a less appealing part of the ceremony.

It appears the right calls were made, and former Press Secretary Sean Spicer showed up to parody his own remarks on the size of the inaugural crowds in November. While many in the audience were amused, I was decidedly less so.

This is not because I wasn’t a fan of the gag. No, my complaint is this is yet another example of the entertainment industry normalizing dangerous men who hold horrible beliefs.

Here stood a man who willingly served an administration that would attempt to bar our fellow humans from entering this country because they disagreed with the worthiness of their religion. He served an administration that would pledge to drive out those seeking a better life.

And when he told his jokes, there was laughter.

This reminded me of when President Donald Trump first appeared on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” where his hair was playfully ruffled by the titular host.

The same concerns I am now expressing were brought up even before he won an election that has driven a stake into the heart of America and torn it apart with hateful rhetoric.

Yet, it seems we simply expressed our outrage and moved on, doing nothing to deal with the problem at hand.

And now we have come around to this situation yet again, only this time around the country is in a much worse state than before.

Perhaps instead of giving these men validation, allowing them to run the tables with these examples of self-parody, the entertainment industry could find within itself the moral courage to condemn these men and their atmosphere of pointless hate.

They could rally against those who fight for oppression in a meaningful manner, more than just all getting together to make a short video plea to vote against a possible tyrant.

They have the power and position to make a real statement, yet they squander it.

At least we still have the award winners themselves, and many of their speeches reflected on the dark times we find ourselves in. Perhaps, if we are lucky, this is a sign of things to come.

Perhaps the industry will see these vanguards and realize that they must follow.

Matthew Olienechak is a columnist. Contact him at [email protected].