All the progress Hollywood made with a historic and diverse Emmys on Sunday was overshadowed by an appearance by former White House press secretary Sean Spicer near the beginning of the show. Inviting him onstage in front of 11.4 million viewers to make light of the time he knowingly lied to the American public was bad enough. But reports from after parties, where celebrities were surrounding Spicer for selfies, made all the Trump protest jokes during the ceremony feel like an absolute sham.

Among the reports was a photo of James Corden—who often is harsh on the President on his show—playfully kissing Spicer on the cheek during an afterparty. It's photographic evidence of how quickly Hollywood forgets, of how easy it is to erase the months of damage Spicer did to our country. There's Corden, kissing the man who belittled journalists and threatened our First Amendment like he's as harmless as Harry Styles.

And after backlash on Twitter, Corden (kind of) addressed photo on his show last night.

The big winners last night were Donald Glover, Hulu, and former White House press secretary Sean Spicer. Spicer won best actor in a comedy for his role in Donald Trump's administration ... I'm kidding, of course. But Sean Spicer actually did make a cameo at last night's ceremony. According to some reports, at the afterparty, Spicer was the post popular guy in the room. And I just want to say, I think people are forgetting that this man lied to the American people, and should not be embraced. These Hollywood phonies kissing up to Sean Spicer are disgusting. I mean, who did this? Who are we talking about here?!

At this point, Corden showed the photo of himself kissing Spicer.

Yeah, I know you think that is a picture of me kissing Sean Spicer. But in the spirit of Sean Spicer—no, it isn't! ... Anyone ever have that feeling when you get a little drunk and then wake up the next morning and think, "Oh God, who did I kiss last night?" It's a bit like that ... To be fair, everyone was kissing ass last night at the Emmys. I just happened to kiss the biggest one there.

After a massive cheer from his audience, Corden appeared to make a turn for a serious apology, but, instead, it was just back to the jokes.

Understandably, some people have been disappointed by this photo. In truth, I'm disappointed by it as well. I am, have been reading a lot of harsh comments on Twitter today, and I hear you loud and clear, truly, I do. So much so I'm really starting to regret that Carpool Karaoke that we've taped with Steve Bannon. Feels like a mistake today.

Yes, it's funny. Yes, it's a smart way to address something that is probably just a silly picture. But, again, we know the danger of confusing politics and entertainment. And seeing both the side of James Corden that will pose for a picture with Sean Spicer and the side that will call him an ass on national television just is a reminder of how immensely hollow this all is.

From: Esquire US