NBC Says "Oops!" After Airplane Skit

As reported earlier today, NBC ran a skit involving a plane crash at the beginning of the Emmy show last night, a skit which appeared to be very insensitive following just a few hours after the Comair crash in Kentucky. NBC felt the heat and has expressed regret:

NBC expressed regret Monday for an Emmy Awards comedy skit that included a mock plane crash and aired on the network the evening of a fatal Kentucky jetliner accident.

"Our hearts and prayers go out to the many families who lost loved ones in the plane crash in Kentucky on Sunday, and to the entire community that has suffered this terrible loss," NBC said in a statement the day after the ceremony.

"In no way would we ever want to make light of this terrible tragedy," NBC said.

"The filmed opening during the Emmy telecast was meant to spoof some of television's most well-known scenes. The timing was unfortunate, and we regret any unintentional pain it may have caused."

The prerecorded skit was broadcast as part of the live Emmy ceremony just hours after a commuter jet taking off in Lexington, Ky., crashed into a field and burst into flames, killing 49 people. Only a co-pilot survived.

Criticism of the sequence appeared on Web sites Sunday night, including the Los Angeles Times', with a columnist for the paper calling it "cringe-inducing" and "of questionable taste."

NBC should have been able to figure that out before they aired it.

I heard one entertainment reported on the radio talking about the skit and how none of the people he talked to at the Emmy's were the least bit bothered by it. Of course they weren't. They were self-absorbed in their own little crises of "what to wear" or "will I win". And don't forget, to Hollywood, Kentucky is just the place they used for the backdrop to Dukes of Hazzard.