Nate Bargatze responds to backlash on Emmys charity game

Emmys host Nate Bargatze is responding to critical reviews of a key part of his hosting performance earlier this month.

“A lot of the reviews did not like the Boys & Girls Clubs thing,” Bargatze said on a recent episode of The Nateland Podcast.

At the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sept. 14, Bargatze explained he would start the show with a base $100,000 donation to The Boys & Girls Clubs of America and would add $1,000 for every second under 45 seconds an acceptance speech took and subtract $1,000 for every second over 45 seconds.

The setup did not go as planned, and at times throughout the show the total donation number dipped below zero. In the end Bargatze decided to kick his donation up to $250,000, while CBS added another $100,000.

The charity challenge drew mixed reactions online.

“It came from a real place of heart,” Bargatze said Wednesday. “Everybody at home loved it. Everybody at home liked it. It was fun. It was entertaining seeing money go down.”

Bargatze said he anticipated all the stars at the event would see it as a lighthearted joke the way he did.

“In my head, I wasn’t trying to put anybody on the spot. I wasn’t trying to make someone donate money. In my head I kind of thought, like, make it fun. Do what John Oliver did, where John Oliver, like, stuck it to me,” he said, referencing Oliver’s comically hurried speech, forcing Bargatze to donate more money.

“We had the kids there. We’re not using the charity as a tool,” he continued, saying he wanted it to be “fun.”

Bargatze said CBS, which aired the Emmys, was “amazing” and supportive of the idea.

The comedian said the intention of the gag was not to “overshadow any of their speeches” and said he thought that companies behind the winning shows would donate to make up for the stars’ longer speeches.

“In my head, I pictured it as they could then go long but then be a hero,” he said of his perception that studios would foot the bill. “So it was like a win-win … and then the night becomes about love, and you’re giving to these kids that are there.”

Bargatze said the setup to the bit may have been the issue. “I don’t know if I just didn’t explain it enough in the room,” he said.

Bargatze also said his decision to donate at the end of the night was not planned. “I wasn’t going to give that money at the end. Like I wasn’t thinking I was going to have to. But the way it went, I was like, ‘Well I can’t—I’m not going to not,” he said.

In an Instagram post the night of the Emmys, the Boys & Girls Clubs of America wrote, “Saying thank you in 45 seconds or less just won’t do. From the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU, @natebargatze & @cbstv, for including our Club Kids in such an unforgettable night. Your generosity and jokes made it magic and we’re beyond grateful to be part of it.”