During the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards, host Jimmy Kimmel urged viewers to take to Twitter and type about comedian Tracy Morgan passing out on stage, instantly sparking 25,000 tweets.
"OMG. Tracy Morgan just passed out on stage at the #Emmys. Turn ABC on right now." ~ @jimmykimmel, telling viewers what to tweet.— Brian A. Hernandez (@BAHjournalist) September 24, 2012
Of course, Morgan didn't really pass out, but he did lie on the stage. Morgan even stayed on his back when the award for Best Writing for a Drama was announced and the Homeland winners got on stage. Kimmel, who had teased about the prank all week, pulled the stunt to attract more viewers to tune into ABC.
Within minutes, "OMG Tracy Morgan" was a worldwide trending topic on Twitter:
And "Omg Tracy Morgan" is trending worldwide. #Emmys— Brian A. Hernandez (@BAHjournalist) September 24, 2012
And Twitter's TV account shared these statistics:
OMG 25,000 tweets instantly thanks to OMG TRacy Morgan #Emmys -- thanks @jimmykimmel !!— Twitter TV (@twittertv) September 24, 2012
Not everyone enjoyed the stunt, though, as actor Omar Epps notes:
Well.. The consensus on my timeline is ya'll aren't feeling the Tracey Morgan stunt.. Point taken tweeps! #Emmys— OMAR EPPS (@omarepps) September 24, 2012
Tracy Morgan #Emmys stunt like that #Survivor who lied about Granny's death for pity vote: got them far but big turn off if you fell for it.— Jose m iniguez (@imJmi) September 24, 2012
Photo from Twitter user @MSquareENt, GIF from Daily Dot and thumbnail from Art Streiber/NBC