Billy Crystal will lead a tribute to Robin Williams at Monday’s 66th Primetime Emmy Awards, this year’s exec producer Don Mischer announced this morning Crystal was the obvious choice — he and Whoopi Goldberg having teamed up several times with Williams, who died last week, in hosting Comic Relief specials that raised money to help the homeless. In today’s announcement, Mischer also said Sara Bareilles will perform during the ceremony’s In Memoriam.
The TV Academy is treading carefully with this year’s tribute, given that Williams lost his life to suicide, and given the drubbing the academy took last year at the Emmys when it expanded the traditional In Memoriam to add separate tributes to five people, including Cory Montieth who some felt should not have been singled out while industry veterans such as Larry Hagman and Jack Klugman were not. Last week Mischer said, “we are working to give Robin Williams the proper and meaningful remembrance he so well deserves.â€
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences already had shown the TV academy how not to pay tribute to Williams, when last week it Tweeted a screen-shot from Disney’s Aladdin, in which the Genie – voiced by Williams — hugs Aladdin. The image was accompanied by a message from the Academy that read: “Genie, you’re free†– a reference to the film, in which Aladdin uses his final wish to free the Genie from the lamp. That tribute got bashed by suicide prevention groups who felt it implied “suicide is an option†which is a formula for potential contagion — including the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, whose Christine Moutier was quoted saying, “if it doesn’t cross the line, it comes very, very close to it.â€
