Aretha Franklin, John McCain, & Many More Honored In Emmys Tribute
The 2018 installment of the Emmy Awards on Monday night honored the stars who have passed away in the last year with a touching video.
As reported by Hollywood Life, the segment both started and ended with the late Aretha Franklin, whose version of “Amazing Grace” was used as the soundtrack for the beautiful video. The 76-year-old Queen of Soul passed away on August 16 after a lengthy battle with pancreatic cancer.
As Franklin sang the moving tune, images and video clips of those who have died in the last year flashed across the screen. Burt Reynolds, John McCain, Anthony Bourdain, Charlotte Rae, Bernie Casey, Della Reese, Robert Guillaume, Dick Enberg, Thad Mumford, and John Mahoney were all remembered in the video.
Franklin was the last of the big names to be featured as well, right at the end of the video, almost exactly one month after she sadly passed away.
The music was taken from a 1960’s clip of her singing the gospel track, and her recent death made the song all the more haunting in her absence.
Comedian Tina Fey introduced the In Memoriam segment, which was followed with an ad break to allow the audience in the auditorium a chance to absorb the gravity of the list of names gone too soon in the past year.
The #Emmys In Memoriam tribute was especially poignant this year after we lose big stars like Aretha Franklin, Anthony Bourdain, Burt Reynolds and more… pic.twitter.com/OS3GPLh7KQ
— Access Hollywood (@accesshollywood) September 18, 2018
Some fans were quick to notice the exclusion of rapper Mac Miller, who passed away after a drug overdose on September 7. People reported that several lashed out on Twitter to express their anger.
#Emmys Mac Miller wasn’t worth mentioning?” tweeted one. “Wow. Hollywood is trash.”
“Y’all forgot to pay respects to Mac Miller in the memoriam,” another wrote.
“Can’t believe that Mac Miller was not included in the emmys memorium for people lost this year when many singers/songwriters were included,” tweeted another.
While some believed that perhaps his exclusion was related to the fact that he was a musician, not an actor, others included in the Memoriam weren’t restricted to only those who had appeared on the big or small screen. Miller also had his own show, Mac Miller and the Most Dope Family, for two seasons from 2013 to 2014.
The Emmys were an emotional event all round, with award-winning director Glen Weiss also eliciting a few tears when he proposed to his girlfriend during his acceptance speech.
“The reason I don’t like to call you my girlfriend is because I want to make you my wife,” he said as he got down on one knee after inviting her up onto the stage with him.
