Jennifer Aniston revealed on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” that she will not be attending the 2021 Emmys on Sunday, citing her personal safety as the pandemic continues.
As part of HBO Max’s “Friends” reunion, she’s nominated in the variety special (pre-recorded) category alongside Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer and other producers.
“No, I will not be going,” she told Jimmy Kimmel on Monday night, adding that producer and director Ben Winston will attend and accept on her behalf, if the “Friends” reunion wins. “This is a big step for me to just be here. Just baby steps.”
She told Kimmel that she’s been staying home a lot, while also safely filming Season 2 of Apple TV Plus’ “The Morning Show,” doing press and visiting her friends Courteney Cox and Jason Bateman. “We had this little bubble of friends — thank God, I love all of you so much — but yeah, it was hard. Weird times,” she said.
After going virtual in 2020, the TV Academy is taking safety precautions and cutting down the number of guests at this year’s in-person ceremony. The show is limited to around 600 attendees, meaning that each production nominated only gets a handful of invites. The open-air event will take place in a high-end tent on the L.A. Live deck, next to the Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles. Proof of vaccination and a negative COVID test result are also required for each person attending.
Aniston helped Kimmel hand out the first award at last year’s virtual Emmys, and extinguished a trash can fire in the process when a skit that involved burning the winner’s envelope went wrong.
The “Friends” reunion was also nominated for production design, directing and lighting design/lighting direction for a variety special, which were announced last weekend at the Creative Arts Emmys. In the variety special (pre-recorded) race, it will face off against Bo Burnham’s “Inside,” Disney Plus’ “Hamilton,” Dave Chappelle’s “8:46” performance, HBO and David Byrne’s “American Utopia,” and the “West Wing” reunion and voting special on HBO Max.
Watch Aniston’s interview with Kimmel below.
Reps for Aniston declined to comment further.