According to Deadline, The Emmys, which premiered on Monday night, tied the record for most winning actors of color. Five out of the twelve Emmys were given to people of color. This makes the 2023 Emmys the most diverse that it has ever been.
Deadline stated that this was the award show’s 75th anniversary. As a result of the 2023 strikes, it was postponed until Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Due to the high number of nonwhite winners, it goes with the 1991 ceremony.
The first two stars were enough to make history on their own, as they were given to The Bear’s Ayo Edebiri and Abbott Elementary’s Quinta Brunson. This was the first time that both the supporting and lead actress awards were given to black women. Along with this, Brunson is the second ever black woman to be awarded lead actress, following The Jefferson’s Isabel Sanford who did it in 1981, said Deadline.
The third black actress to win an award that night was Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story’s Niecy Nash-Betts. Deadline reported that upon winning, Nash said, “I accept this award on behalf of every Black and brown woman who has gone unheard yet overpoliced, like Glenda Cleveland, like Sandra Bland, like Breonna Taylor, As an artist, my job is to speak truth to power and baby, I’m going to do it until the day I die.”
However, unlike 1991, Asian actors also brought home many awards, said Deadline. Ali Wong and Steven Yeun both took home awards for Beef, with Wong being the first ever Asian woman to earn an Emmy for a lead role.
Along with this, Deadline revealed that The Television Academy also gave recognition to GLAAD for LGBTQ+ representation, stating that “What the world sees on TV influences how we treat each other and the decisions we make in our living rooms, schools, at work and at the ballot box,” GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement. “When you don’t know people, it’s easy to demonize them. Visibility creates understanding, and it opens doors. It’s life-saving.”