Will & Grace star Sean Hayes got a ton of laughs at the 2019 GLAAD Media Awards, but his joke about Jussie Smollett got some gasps and groans too.
“I’ve been getting in shape for tonight with the Jussie Smollett workout,” Hayes told the audience at the event on Thursday, March 29, referencing the Empire actor’s recent legal drama. “You hire two trainers and sweat eight weeks. It wipes out all your belly fat and credibility.”
Oh, Sean Hayes went there. 😬 pic.twitter.com/jo22U0SEXT
— Marc Malkin (@marcmalkin) March 29, 2019
Smollett, 36, was previously accused of conspiring with two men, one of whom was allegedly his personal trainer, to fake the alleged racist and homophobic attack against him in January.
Prosecutors in Cook County, Illinois, announced on Tuesday, March 26, that they were dropping all 16 felony counts against him. “He was a victim who was vilified and made to appear as a perpetrator as a result of false and inappropriate remarks made to the public causing an inappropriate rush to judgment,” Smollett’s lawyers said in a statement to Us Weekly on Tuesday.
A day later, however, a source told Us there is an “active federal investigation” into how the actor “received an unusually favorable plea deal.”
As Hayes accepted the Stephen F. Kolzak Award on Thursday, his other jokes went over better, especially when he pointed out that the rest of the Will & Grace cast had already gotten GLAAD honors. “[I’m] the last one … the gay one out of the four,” he quipped.
He then told the crowd that the award completed his EGOT designation: “Now people can finally say, ‘’E got a Teen Choice Award, ‘e got a couple SAG Awards, and tonight ‘e got a GLAAD Award.’”
And the comedian playfully trolled Scott Icenogle, his husband of four years: “I love you very, very much, Stephen. Ronald. Scotty! Scotty. It’s Scotty. So sorry. Scotty, rhymes with hottie. Sorry.”
Previous recipients of the Stephen F. Kolzak Award — which honors those who make a significant difference in promoting LGBTQ acceptance — include Laverne Cox, Ellen DeGeneres and Jim Parsons.
