LA County responds to Seth Rogen after he alleges Emmys were not safe
Sep 21, 2021
Washington [US], September 21 : Comedian Seth Rogen expressed his disappointment over the lack of COVID-19 safety protocols at the Emmys 2021, which the LA County Department of Health has recently refuted.
Seth Rogen's rant suggesting the Emmys broke COVID safety rules is misguided ... at least according to the LA County Department of Health, which is refuting some of his comments.
The LA County Department of Health told TMZ that the current mandate in LA requires everyone to wear mask indoors, whether vaccinated or unvaccinated, but it also says exceptions are made for film, TV and music productions.
The county told that the Emmy Awards qualify as TV production, and all the people appearing on the show are considered performers, so masks were not a must for attendees.
Additionally, the Department of Health said that there were extra safety modifications in place for the event. Everyone had to be fully vaccinated but they also had to have a verified negative COVID-19 test within 48 hours of the show.
The department told that crew members were either fully vaccinated or recently tested as well.
They told TMZ that the Emmys reached out to share its safety protocols and they "exceeded the baseline requirements for television and film productions."
While announcing the first award of the 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards, Rogen called out the organisers of the event for seemingly not abiding by the COVID health and safety protocols they had promised. He also claimed Emmy officials promised them the show would be outdoors, and it wasn't.
"There's way too many of us in this little room. They said it was outdoors. It's not. I would not have come to this. Why is there a roof? This is insane. ... I went from wiping my groceries to having Paul Bettany sneeze in my face. That's a big week," Rogen said.
The 2021 Emmy awards took place at the Event Deck at LA Live, an indoor-outdoor venue. The Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles used to be the go-to venue for the annual television awards.
