NBC Declined to Air Suicide Prevention PSA After Robin Williams Emmy Tribute
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Art Streiber/CBS© 2013 CBS Broadcasting Inc.(LOS ANGELES) — The Emmy Awards telecast on NBC Monday night featured a special tribute to the late Robin Williams, delivered by Billy Crystal. According to a new report, NBC received a request to air a public service announcement for the National Suicide Prevention Network after the tribute, but it was turned down.
A spokesperson for NBC explains to The Hollywood Reporter, “Collectively we decided to celebrate the life of Robin Williams, not his death or, more to the point, the way he died.”
The spokesperson continues, “The Emmys telecast is a celebration, and the ‘In Memoriam’ section of our show is an important one. We believe we honored Robin in the right away. Suicide is a serious issue, but we decided not to dwell on that — or its prevention — in this particular forum.”
Williams was found dead in his home Aug. 11 of an apparent suicide.
The late comedian and Oscar-winning actor is remembered in the new issue of Rolling Stone, on newsstands Friday. It includes recollections from peers such as Tom Hanks, who writes of Williams’ star turn as the TV alien Mork, “In 1978, word came from the set of TV’s Happy Days. That week, Fonzie’s ultracool was threatened by a stranger from another world. The guy playing the alien was hilarious.”
Comedy producer Judd Apatow notes in the Rolling Stone issue, “He was doing something so unique that no one could even attempt their version of it. He raised the bar for what it’s possible to do, and made an enormous amount of us want to be comedians. He looked like he was having so much fun.”
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