Emmys Viewers Are Utterly Confused About the Audience in Jimmy Kimmel's Live Opening

From Good Housekeeping

The 72nd Emmy Awards got off to a head-scratching start on Sunday night.

To kick off the evening, host Jimmy Kimmel began cracking jokes and welcoming viewers to the "Pandemmys" being filmed at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Strangely though, as Jimmy rattled off his monologue, the camera turned to what appeared to be an audience full of Emmy-nominated actors and actresses.

Take a look in the clip below:

Of course, given the coronavirus pandemic and current social distancing guidelines in place, it made everyone at home instantly confused and concerned. "What... what is happening with this fake audience #Emmys," one fan wondered. "How are they doing this? Are they just cutting to a fake audience? What?" another viewer asked. "So this audience is really there without any social distancing rules? #Emmys," another inquired.

But soon, all of their questions were answered. As Twitter continued to erupt, Jimmy eventually confessed that there wasn't actually an audience in the venue at all — it was all digitized. The most telling moment came when the lights in the Staples Center lit up to reveal a totally empty venue.

"I'm up here all alone, just like prom night," he quipped. Moments later, Jimmy revealed what was actually in the arena: a room full of cardboard celebrity cutouts.

While some folks found the stunt to be hilarious, many on Twitter thought the fake audience was ... well, an interesting choice.

"The fact it took five whole minutes into @TheEmmys to address that the audience footage was from previous seasons while the word "live" showed in chyrons — twice! — felt like nails on chalkboard," one Emmy viewer tweeted. "I was so confused what they were doin' with the audience for a minute, all those people in the same room right now just seemed like an awful idea #Emmys #EmmyAwards #Emmys2020," another tweeted. "These cuts to old audience stuff is s0 CHEESY HAHAH #Emmys," someone else lamented.

To clarify, even though the audience footage was pre-recorded, the rest of the Emmys are in fact being filmed live Sunday night. Just making that clear, in case Jimmy confuses us again later on in the ceremony.

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