Body Language Expert Has This To Say About Lorne Michaels' Norm Macdonald Emmys Tribute
Lorne Michaels accepted an award on behalf of the cast, crew, and producers for "Saturday Night Live" at the 73rd Annual Emmy Awards on September 19, as the show won for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series. Michaels' acceptance speech included all of the usual suspects, but when he neared the end, he brought up an arguably surprising name. Michaels made sure to mention Norm Macdonald, who died on September 14 at just 61 years old. Michaels pointed to the "Weekend Update" segment of "SNL" as a big part of their Emmy win, and he used that as a segue to thank the late Macdonald for his contribution to the show.
Though Macdonald largely contributed to the success of "Saturday Night Live" in the early-to-mid '90s, he left the show amid rumors he was fired by Michaels. However, Macdonald later revealed Michaels did not have any part of his firing. Still, fans of the late "SNL" star weren't happy with the executive producer's Emmys tribute, accusing the producer of being insincere.
So were fans on to something? And just what did the executive producer's body language say during his acceptance speech? Keep scrolling to find out.
Lorne's body language shifted when talking about Norm
During his acceptance speech for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series at the 73rd Annual Emmy Awards, Lorne Michales' body language almost spoke more loudly than he did. Body language expert, media coach, international personal branding expert, and author of "A.W.E.S.O.M.E.," Jess Ponce III spoke exclusively to Nicki Swift about Michaels' nonverbal actions, sharing that the executive producer seemed to show two distinct personalities while he was speaking.
Ponce III revealed, "Michaels' acceptance speech initially was reminiscent of a novice TV personality, someone who is not used to being put on the spot or speaking in front of others." He pointed to Michaels "nervously" holding his notecards and said he appeared to be "reading a speech word by word, while barely keeping composure to his words." Ponce III stated he was surprised Michaels acted like that, as he thought "an icon like him" would have been more confident speaking in front of others. The body language expert also pointed to the disparity between Michaels' actions and the "cast [standing] behind him, who were smiling."
Ponce III then described a marked difference when Michaels began to speak about the late Norm MacDonald. The body language expert described Michaels as "deliberate, cautious, and somber" and detailed the tribute was "definitely ... prepared" but also pointed out that "those behind him were not in on it." Ponce III stated Michaels "looked compassionately straight ahead of him as he spoke about Norm."