She’s coming for that Emmy! While hosting the 2016 Emmys at Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theater on Sunday, September 18, Jimmy Kimmel pointed out that, once again, Maggie Smith skipped TV’s biggest night.
The 81-year-old won Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as sassy Violet Crawley on Downton Abbey, but she wasn’t able to attend the ceremony. Smith was also absent from the 2011 and 2012 Emmys, and both years she took home the supporting actress win for PBS’ Masterpiece series.
Instead of letting someone else accept on her behalf, Kimmel stormed on stage and grabbed the statuette from presenters Minnie Driver and Michael Weatherly. The comedian quipped, “No, no, no. We’re not mailing this to her. Maggie, if you want this, it will be in the lost and found.”
Although the Harry Potter actress wasn’t in the audience, she was definitely watching and had the perfect response to Kimmel’s joke.
“I was very astonished and pleased to win the award. I feel the Emmys have been overly generous to me,” she wrote on the Masterpiece PBS Twitter account on Monday, September 19. “If Mr. Kimmel could please direct me to the lost and found office I will try and be on the next flight. Love, Old Maggie.”
Dame #MaggieSmith graciously accepts her #Emmy award — @jimmykimmel, please advise on the location of the lost and found! #DowntonPBS pic.twitter.com/veQ6shRmxA
— Masterpiece PBS (@masterpiecepbs) September 19, 2016
Kimmel also joked about Smith’s noticeable absence in his opening monologue. “If you don’t know, Maggie Smith, she’s been nominated for the Emmy nine times. She’s won the Emmy three times. How many times do you think she’s shown up here to get the Emmy? That’s right, no times. This year, she had a Sunday ceramics class that she couldn’t get out of. When Maggie Smith hears she’s nominated for an Emmy, she has the same reaction the rest of us have when we get those 20 percent off Bed Bath & Beyond coupons in the mail. Right in the garbage,” he said. “I have a message for you, Lame Maggie Smith, if you’re even bothering to watch. If you want an Emmy, you better hop on a plane right now and get over here.”
Downton Abbey ended its six-season run in the U.S. in March.
