Obama speechwriter reveals sketch cut from 2013 Emmys

A former speechwriter to President Obama revealed in an article published by Politico a script for a sketch written for the former president to perform during the 2013 Emmys.

In the sketch, Obama would have interrupted a phone call between two actors: Tony Goldwyn, known for playing President Fitzgerald Grant on “Scandal,” and Jay Pharaoh, the “Saturday Night Live” cast member who played Obama himself.

“Excuse me, Fitz? And, uh, ‘Mr. President?’ You’re not the real president,” Obama would cut in. “I mean, you’re not fooling anyone. These are smart people. Hollywood people. At an award show. They can tell when someone is insincere.”

“I am the actual president,” Obama would have said, before pivoting to an ObamaCare pitch.

{mosads}The sketch was cut from the final broadcast for being “political,” according to a Politico interview with several former White House officials. But according to the report, some officials believe Obama filmed his lines in anticipation of the final sketch being broadcast.

“The most senior member of the academy leadership made it abundantly clear that he was killing the sketch for the reasons of ‘not being political,’ ” one former official said. 

Another former Obama official who now works at Funny or Die said the White House was excited to do the sketch, but was never informed why it didn’t get filmed.

“We were notified by the producers at the Emmys that they had this fun sketch idea to get the word out about the Affordable Care Act,” the official said, according to Politico. “We were excited to hear the news, and were in conversations with them about the sketch, and for whatever reason the sketch never materialized.”

At the 2017 Emmy’s on Sunday, former White House press secretary Sean Spicer made a controversial appearance as part of host Stephen Colbert’s opening monologue.

Obama ended up having a presence at the Emmys anyway, two years later. An episode of “Between Two Ferns” with host Zack Galifianakis won an Emmy for Outstanding Short-Format Live-Action Entertainment Program in 2015.