Actor Peter MacNicol loses ‘Veep’ Emmy nod over technicality

The 62-year-old actor was in the running for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy for his role as powerbroker Jeff Kane in “Veep”, but the Television Academy have now withdrawn him from the shortlist as he has appeared in too many episodes of the series to qualify.

MacNicol has appeared in five of the 10 episodes of Veep’s fifth season – which was not the case when the Emmy nominations were announced on 14 July.

To compete in the guest category, actors are to star in less than 50 percent of the season.

Be Civil – It’s OK to have a difference in opinion but there’s no need to be a jerk. A new nominee is expected to be announced shortly.

Veep’s Peter MacNicol has lost his comedic guest-actor Emmy nomination after running afoul of a technicality. Subsequently, however, he was included in ten seconds of footage in the show’s ninth episode, a documentary supposedly assembled by the daughter of series lead Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ President Selina Meyer. On the grounds of a technicality that labels guest actors as only those who have appeared in less than 50% of a series, Peter MacNicol has been disqualified from the awards show. “This decision is in no way a diminishment of Mr. MacNicol’s stellar performance on this season of ‘Veep, ‘” the statement continued.

When asked about the disqualification, HBO explained that it was an honest mistake. The information we received from the production was that Peter MacNicol was eligible as a guest star because he would appear in only four episodes. MacNicol joins Dennis Miller and Henry Winkler as actors who were found ineligible for Emmies after they had been nominated.

Scolari now joins fellow nominees in his category: Bob Newhart (The Big Bang Theory), Tracy Morgan (Saturday Night Live), Bradley Whitford (Transparent) and Martin Mull (Veep).

“We are very sorry that Peter’s brilliant performance will not be recognized”, the network said.