The Other Contest He Claims Is Rigged: Donald Trump's Longstanding Feud With the Emmys

There was a superheated moment in Wednesday night's debate and triggered an instant response from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

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At one point in the night, Hillary Clinton said: "There was even a time when he didn't get an Emmy for his TV program three years in a row and he began tweeting the Emmys were rigged."

Donald Trump interjected: "I should have gotten it!"

Both the Emmys and the Television Academy tweeted: “Rest assured, the Emmys are not rigged.”

Rest assured, the #Emmys are not rigged. https://t.co/vKK5xjqBuy pic.twitter.com/B7dBpGY1uQ

October 20, 2016

Trump has been in a feud with the Emmys for years because The Apprentice has been nominated nine times but never once won.

The Apprentice aired on NBC between 2004 and 2010, followed by its spinoff, Celebrity Apprentice.

Losing to The Amazing Race in the reality competitive category time and time again rankled Trump that he rarely misses a chance to claim the awards are rigged.

During an episode of Celebrity Apprentice in 2015, he discovered Leeza Gibbons had an Emmy, and he let loose.

“You have an Emmy? I got screwed out of an Emmy. Everybody thought I was going to win it! In fact, when they announced the winner I stood up before the winner was announced. And I started walking for the Emmy and then they announced the most boring show on television. Piece of crap. I literally stood up and started walking,” he said.

In 2011, he posted a video on YouTube in which he said: "They're picking the wrong people and they're picking the wrong shows."

Add that to a blizzard of tweets over the years slamming the Emmys, including one in 2012, where he said: “The Emmys are all politics, The Apprentice never won--even though it should have many times over.”

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Actor Chip McAllister won The Amazing Race in 2004, the year the show first beat The Apprentice at the Emmys, he spoke to Inside Edition about Trump’s disdain for the show.

He said: "How can anyone expect Donald Trump to be okay with losing the presidential race when he still can’t get over not winning an Emmy?"

The Emmys seemed to be firing back at Trump last month during the big show.

He was the target of numerous jokes, including one from host Jimmy Kimmel, who said: “We don't have to watch reality shows anymore because we're living in one.”

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