The 44th US President bags a statuette for “outstanding” narration of a Netflix documentary series.
Former US President Barack Obama has added an Emmy Award to his growing bag of prizes and honors, becoming the second ever American leader to get the prestigious statuette for “excellence” in the television industry.
The 44th US President won the “outstanding narrator” Emmy for “Our Great National Parks,” a five-episode Netflix documentary series, produced by Barack and Michelle Obama’s own production company, “Higher Ground.”
Obama was not present at the Creative Arts Emmy ceremony at the Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday night to receive the statuette personally. He is the second US leader to be honored the top TV award, after Dwight D. Eisenhower received a special Emmy Award in 1956 for becoming the first president to give a televised news conference.
Congrats to President Barack Obama who just became the first President to win a competitive Emmy for narrating Our Great National Parks pic.twitter.com/v86JNsyDGD
— Netflix (@netflix) September 4, 2022
Barack Obama received numerous honors and awards before, during and after his two terms in the White House between 2009 and 2017. Among his other awards in the entertainment industry are two Grammy Awards for an audiobook reading of two of his memoirs, “Dreams from My Father” in 2006 and “The Audacity of Hope” in 2008.
The illustrious politician also holds the Pentagon’s highest medal for Distinguished Public Service, several foreign state honors – including from Israel and Saudi Arabia – over a dozen of honorary degrees from multiple US states.
His most prominent award is the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize he received just nine months into his presidency, for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples,” largely on speculation that he would deliver on his promises – while the US instead started new wars and prolonged existing ones under his watch.
I thought he won the award for his role as Caesar in ‘Planet of the Apes’, as the physical resemblance is striking, as was the social disruption and the use of “Primal Communism’
The Emmy was really for his excellent portrayal of a FORMER president, when it’s painfully obvious to everyone that he’s the current one.