I was saddened to see how bad the ratings were on the Emmys last night - the worst ever. Smartest people of them all are the "DEPLORABLES." ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. 
 
 Sep. 19, 2017, 11:59 PM GMT / Updated Sep. 19, 2017, 11:59 PM GMT By Claire Atkinson 
 
 The big five news organizations have passed on offering former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer a job as an exclusive paid contributor, network sources confirmed to NBC News on Tuesday. 
 
 Since Spicer exited the White House, his representatives have been holding individual conversations about the possibility of President Donald Trump's former flack joining one of the major TV networks, which include CBS News, CNN, Fox News, ABC News and NBC News. 
 
 But "they won't touch him," said a media industry executive familiar with those conversations. 
 
 “The news organizations might use him on roundtables, but [a paid exclusive contributor job] is not happening,” the executive added. 
 
 A number of network insiders who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect their business relationships said none of the networks were interested in hiring Spicer because of a "lack of credibility." 
 
 Representatives of the five news networks all declined to comment. Spicer and Robert Barnett, his representative, also declined to comment. 
 
 CNN had already said it wasn’t interested in him ahead of planned conversations, while Axios reported on Sept. 7 that Fox News would not be offering Spicer a TV contract. Fox News has previously hired the former White House press secretaries Ari Fleischer and Dana Perino. On Tuesday, sources with knowledge of the decisions confirmed that CBS News, ABC News and NBC News also would not offer him an exclusive role. 
 
 A person familiar with Spicer’s ongoing talks said that while conversations had not concluded, network punditry wasn’t the most important measure of success and that Spicer may want more freedom to work for multiple outlets. There are also talks about a nonscripted reality show in the mix, said one person familiar with the situation. 
 
 Meanwhile, there could also be interest in Spicer from other outlets. 
 
 Spicer announced he was leaving the White House in July after news broke that Trump had appointed voluble Wall Street executive Anthony Scaramucci as communications director, and he formally departed in August. (Scaramucci was ousted after just 10 days after his appointment was announced.) One of Spicer’s first moves was to hire Barnett, the veteran Washington politics and media lawyer. 
 
 Spicer already has a role as a visiting fellow at Harvard Kennedy School, and is signed with Worldwide Speakers Group for paid speaking engagements. The company website touts Spicer's ability to discuss "the people, philosophies and policies that matter most to the citizens of the U.S. and businesses around the world.” 
 
 On Sunday, Spicer surprised the Emmy Awards audience by rolling out on a podium and describing the size of the crowd — a nod to both actress Melissa McCarthy's portrayal of him on "Saturday Night Live" and a reference to Spicer’s incorrect contention that the president had attracted the “largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period,” in January. 
 
 When asked by The New York Times after the show if he regretted the way he had treated the press and their reporting on inauguration crowd size, he responded, “Of course I do, absolutely.” 
 
 Spicer reportedly turned down an invitation to compete on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” in August. ||||| Sean Spicer and Chelsea Manning are headed back to school. Sort of. 
 
 Mr. Spicer, President Trump’s former White House press secretary, and Ms. Manning, a former United States soldier who served seven years in prison for leaking classified information, were named visiting fellows at the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School on Wednesday. 
 
 Needless to say, their politics differ considerably. 
 
 Mr. Spicer, a former spokesman for the Republican National Committee, objected when President Obama commuted Ms. Manning’s 35-year prison sentence in January. He called it “disappointing” and said "it sends a very troubling message when it comes to the handling of classified information.” 
 
 Ms. Manning does not appear to be too fond of Mr. Spicer, either. Her appointment drew criticism on Wednesday, and when Bill Kristol, the Weekly Standard editor, said, “I think I’ll forego I.O.P. events this fall,” Ms. Manning replied: “Awesome! Can you ask Sean Spicer to do the same?” ||||| "I was saddened to see how bad the ratings were on the Emmys last night - the worst ever," President Donald Trump tweeted late Tuesday. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Trump counterpunches Emmy Awards over 'bad' ratings 
 
 President Donald Trump jabbed back at the Emmy Awards' "bad" ratings on Twitter on Tuesday night, after the show featured a string of derisive jokes aimed at the White House. 
 
 "I was saddened to see how bad the ratings were on the Emmys last night - the worst ever," President Trump tweeted late Tuesday, his first comments on the program since it aired Sunday night. 
 
 Story Continued Below 
 
 About 11.4 million viewers tuned in to see the 69th annual Emmy Awards on Sunday, just barely outpacing the 11.3 million that tuned in for 2016, an all-time low for the ceremony. The program ran against a “Sunday Night Football” matchup between the Green Bay Packers and the Atlanta Falcons, which drew in 18.5 million viewers. Overall, the Packers-Falcons game was the highest-rated show of the week; the Emmys finished fourth. 
 
 The awards show, hosted by progressive darling and late-night host Stephen Colbert, saw numerous zingers flung at the president and his administration, most prominently by Colbert himself, who quipped that Trump's presidency might have been avoided had he won an Emmy for his prior work on "Celebrity Apprentice." 
 
 "Why didn’t you give him an Emmy?" Colbert asked the star-studded crowd. "I tell you this, if he had won an Emmy, I bet he wouldn’t have run for president. So in a way this is all your fault." 
 
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 Sunday's iteration of the awards ceremony was also notable for giving several politically oriented TV programs, like the presidential comedy "Veep" and the dyspotic "Handmaid's Tale," top honors, moves widely seen as emblematic of a tense political climate. Alec Baldwin, meanwhile, notched the Emmy for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy for his imitations of Trump on "Saturday Night Live" — another program the president has mocked. 
 
 Trump has repeatedly trashed the Emmys in the past. In 2014, Trump panned then-host Seth Meyers of NBC, whose performance he deemed "terrible," adding on Twitter: "Host Seth Meyers bombed!" 
 
 Host Stephen Colbert quipped Sunday that Donald Trump's presidency might have been avoided had he won an Emmy for his prior work on "Celebrity Apprentice." | Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP 
 
 The show also saw a return to the spotlight for former Trump press secretary Sean Spicer, who rolled out on a podium and mocked his now-infamous first outing at the press podium where he disputed graphic evidence disproving the administration's claim to have turned out the "largest audience" ever to a presidential inauguration. 
 
 “This will be the largest audience to witness an Emmys, period,” said Spicer, standing behind the lectern Melissa McCarthy used during her impersonations of him on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.” “Both in person and around the world.” 
 
 The president also appeared to praise his political base for being smarter that those tuning into Sunday's broadcast. 
 
 "Smartest people of them all are the 'DEPLORABLES,'" Trump added on Tuesday. ||||| Stephen Colbert had the idea to invite Sean Spicer up on stage at the Emmys on Sunday night. He and his producers knew there would be blowback. And there's been a whole lot. 
 
 But Colbert thought it would be funny and surprising, and that's what mattered most. 
 
 Spicer scored points for comedy but sparked a raging debate: Should Colbert and the Emmys have given Spicer a platform to rehabilitate an image so badly tarnished by his brief stint working as President Trump's spokesman? 
 
 Was Spicer "in on the joke?" Was he essentially admitting to lying to the American people from behind the White House podium? 
 
 As the debate went on late Sunday night, Colbert was celebrating his first gig hosting the Emmys at a late-night party in Los Angeles. Spicer was there too, taking selfies with celebrities and gawkers. He seemed to revel in the attention. 
 
 Related: Emmys 2017: The big moments that have people talking 
 
 Spicer resigned from his job as White House press secretary in July and formally left the administration in August. Now he is hitting the speaker circuit, landing consulting gigs and looking for a potential TV commentator job. He will be a visiting fellow at Harvard Kennedy School's Institute of Politics this fall. 
 
 Many Democrats and some anti-Trump Republicans are offended that Spicer -- who peddled misinformation on behalf of his boss -- is being embraced by institutions like Harvard. 
 
 "Harvard and the Emmys based on 7 months lying in the WH," former Obama foreign policy adviser Ben Rhodes tweeted. "America is not exactly a meritocracy and false equivalence trumps reality." 
 
 Some might see his Emmys appearance as an audition -- similar to his sit-down with Jimmy Kimmel on ABC last week. 
 
 He stood behind a faux podium and told Colbert, "This will be the largest audience to witness the Emmys, period -- both in person and around the world," poking fun at his false assertion about crowd size at President Trump's inauguration. 
 
 Spicer's insistence that Trump had a record crowd, despite photographic evidence to the contrary, was the first of many incidents that eroded Spicer's credibility and made him into a punchline on "SNL." 
 
 His "SNL" impersonator, Melissa McCarthy, was in the audience during Sunday night's bit, furthering the idea that Spicer was winking at his reputation. 
 
 The Emmys surprise came together just a few days before Sunday's telecast. Colbert wondered aloud if Spicer might play along, and one of his "Late Show" producers then pitched it, according to a source with firsthand knowledge of the skit. 
 
 Spicer was already in Los Angeles for Kimmel's show last Wednesday. He briefly flew back east, to his home near Washington, then returned to Los Angeles for a secret dress rehearsal before the broadcast. 
 
 The auditorium was almost entirely emptied before Spicer practiced his lines, the source said, so that his participation wouldn't leak ahead of time. 
 
 The reveal went off without a hitch. From the live broadcast, it looked like the auditorium full of mostly liberal Hollywood celebrities lapped it up. There were laughs and lots of shocked faces. 
 
 Within minutes, however, a wave of criticism crested on social media. Journalists, activists and celebrities said they didn't think it was funny to treat Spicer's mendacious behavior like a throwaway laugh line. 
 
 The actor Zach Braff tweeted: "I'm not ready to laugh 'with' Sean Spicer. I think he is an evil, opportunistic liar that hurt our country." 
 
 The MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell commented that the Emmys "helped Spicer pump up his 'lecture' fees, which is all that matters to him now." 
 
 While many of the objections came from liberals, some conservatives also made arguments against the skit. 
 
 "I know people who were offered opportunities to lie for Donald Trump and quietly declined. Harvard & The Emmys calling the wrong folks," former Jeb Bush spokesman Tim Miller tweeted. 
 
 Among the counter-arguments: It was just a joke. And besides, wasn't Spicer actually admitting to his and Trump's dishonesty through comedy? 
 
 Colbert is an outspoken opponent of President Trump, and he doesn't fret about the perception that he's "normalizing" Spicer. "Donald Trump normalized Spicer," a source involved in the production said. 
 
 Spicer himself told The Hollywood Reporter that he hadn't considered the criticism his appearance might get. "I was more worried about the logistical reactions," he told the magazine after the show. "I've never wheeled a podium before. The one I'm used to is pretty stationary." 
 
 Both sources who spoke with CNN on Monday morning marveled at the way Spicer was mobbed by Emmys attendees both at the awards show and at the parties afterward. 
 
 "He could barely eat at the Governor's Ball, he was so popular," one of the sources said. 
 
 President Trump went from the entertainment world -- a hit show on NBC -- to politics. Now Spicer, a longtime spokesman for the Republican National Committee, is going in the other direction. 
 
 The Hollywood Reporter's Chris Gardner described Spicer in the auditorium lobby during the show, "posing for pics, drinking beer, soaking up all attention after onstage appearance."
– The Emmys helped Sean Spicer "rebrand," according to CNN—but apparently not enough. The five major news networks have passed on the opportunity to have the former White House press secretary as an exclusive paid contributor, reports NBC News. Spicer's representatives had brought the proposal to CBS News, CNN, Fox News, ABC News, and NBC News, but none were receptive, NBC reports, citing insiders who referred to Spicer's "lack of credibility." That doesn't mean Spicer won't be gracing your TV screens shortly. Insiders tell NBC that major networks may be willing to host him, just not exclusively. There might also be a Spicer reality show in the works, one source says. Spicer has already signed with Worldwide Speakers Group to manage his paid speaking engagements. He also has a gig as a visiting fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School, the New York Times previously reported. But even Harvard is taking flak. "I know people who were offered opportunities to lie for Donald Trump and quietly declined. Harvard & The Emmys calling the wrong folks," Tim Miller, a former Jeb Bush spokesman, tweeted, per CNN. President Trump, meanwhile, took to Twitter late Tuesday to bash the Emmy ratings, which he called "the worst ever," reports Politico. The show drew 11.4 million viewers, slightly more than the all-time low of 11.3 million in 2016.