Nate Bargatze says his charity bit at the Emmys didn’t exactly play out as he planned
By Lisa Respers France, CNN
(CNN) — So… about that donation to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.
During the recent Emmy Awards, host Nate Bargatze had a running bit to keep acceptance speeches on time that he announced prior to ceremony.
The comedian told the audience he planned on making a $100,000 donation to the Boys and Girls Club of America, with the catch that for every Emmy winner that went over their allotted 45 seconds for acceptance speeches, he would deduct $1000 per second.
Kids from the charitable organization were present at the show, and Bargatze showed how his planned donation was fluctuating throughout the night.
On the most recent episode of his podcast “Nateland,” Bargatze explained that the ceremony producers asked him for ideas on how to keep the show on time. Bargatze said tying his donation to speech times, which got some criticism, “came from a real place of heart.”
“I wasn’t trying to put anyone on the spot,” he said. “I wasn’t trying to make someone donate money. But in my head I kind of thought, like ‘Make it fun.’”
Fun, he said, in the way that late-night host John Oliver treated it by making an incredibly short speech, knowing that Bargatze had said that if people kept their remarks under the time limit, he would add to the money.
The comic said he envisioned that everyone in the room would get into the spirit of giving and step up.
“I thought it was gonna be, I don’t know, Netflix donating, or Apple. The shows that won! It’s not like I expected that kid [‘Adolescence’ star Owen Cooper, who won outstanding supporting actor in a limited series or TV movie] to give money, which I covered for that kid. But I kind of thought that’s what would happen.”
“In my head I pictured it as they could then go long, but then be a hero. So it was like a win-win.” he added. “And then the night becomes about love and you’re giving to these kids that are there.”
Bargatze acknowledged that he perhaps “didn’t explain it enough in the room.”
“I had it in my head one way. It kind of came out another way, but the reasoning was there,” he said.
At the end of the Emmys, Bargatze announced that the number had gotten “embarrassing,” so CBS, which aired the show, kicked in $100,000 and he upped his donation to $250,000, raising a total of $350,000 for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
On his podcast, Bargatze said he was “not gonna not” donate for the kids.
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