Emmys faces backlash for snubbing major late Hollywood stars

The In Memoriam segment at Sunday's 78th Primetime Emmy Awards drew significant backlash online after omitting several notable television figures who died over the past year, most prominently Walker, Texas Ranger star Chuck Norris. 

Norris, who died in March at 86 following a hospitalisation in Hawaii, starred in all nine seasons of the CBS action series and appeared in other shows including The Goldbergs and Hawaii Five-0.

Also excluded was Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Nicholas Brendon, who died in March at 54, an omission fans found especially jarring given that the same broadcast included a reunion tribute honouring the Buffy cast, with co-stars Sarah Michelle Gellar and Anthony Head appearing on stage. 

Other missing names included Big Love and Lilo & Stitch: The Series actress Daveigh Chase, who died in June at 35, 30 Rock's Grizz Chapman, Starship Troopers and Days of Our Lives actor Patrick Muldoon, The Gong Show panelist Jaye P. Morgan and, notably, actor and director Robert Redford.

The segment did include lengthy, dedicated tributes to Rob Reiner, Dolly Parton and Catherine O'Hara, along with recognition of other major losses including Hayden Panettiere and Bob Mackie. 

Jamie Lee Curtis delivered a personal tribute to Reiner, her late friend and a posthumous Emmy winner this year, while O'Hara's Schitt's Creek co-stars Annie Murphy and Dan Levy, along with her Home Alone co-star Macaulay Culkin, introduced the broader In Memoriam segment. 

Fans reacted with frustration online over the omissions, with one widely shared post reading, "Chuck Norris didn't make the In Memoriam, they made a mistake," while a friend of Daveigh Chase told TMZ the show had "snubbed" her from the tribute entirely.