Photo Courtesy of The New York Times
On Sunday Sept. 19, the 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards was hosted live and in-person by Cedric the Entertainer. Big winners of the evening included renowned Netflix original series “The Crown” and Apple TV+ comedy “Ted Lasso.” Although there were achievements for people of color at the awards, notably RuPaul Charles becoming the most-awarded person of color in Emmy history and transgender actress Mj “Michaela Jaé” Rodriguez being nominated for “Outstanding Lead Actress in a Television Series,” viewers expressed a multitude of criticisms about the lack of diversity among the winners of the evening.
The number of people of color nominated was the highest it has ever been, but these nominees were not victorious in their categories. In particular, the 12 highest awards of the night were all won by white nominees. This sparked a discussion between viewers and entertainers alike on social media with the hashtag “#EmmysSoWhite” trending on Twitter. Posts about the Emmys’ claims to try to recognize non-white actors and writers being performative flooded social media platforms. Actress Yvette Nicole Brown, nominated for her role in “A Black Lady Sketch Show,” took to Twitter and wrote, “Every chance [the Emmys] had to make history in a meaningful way, they passed on it.”
People of color were joined by the LGBTQ+ community in criticizing the Emmys. The aforementioned Rodriguez, known for her role as Blanca Evangelista in the FX series “Pose” and her costar Billy Porter received an abundance of support from fans who were upset that they did not win in their categories. Many viewers expressed their confusion over why “The Crown” won over “Pose” on Twitter. Several users suspect that the show was snubbed at the awards due to its focus on the gay and trans communities within the plot and the cast.
Currently, several people are urging the Emmys to change the way voting is structured, with plans to boycott the show in the future until things change. While the show overhauled their small jury panels with a mass system of smaller groups, this still has not settled the controversy. With these groups, members can make their votes personal, allowing shows with larger audiences to sweep categories. Many believe that it is time for this to change, including Los Angeles Times Arts and Entertainment reporter Ashley Lee who described the Emmys as “that TV show you’re still watching ‘just in case’ it finally does something different, but every year it proves you wrong and does its same old thing again.”
So far, there has been no statement addressing these controversies from the Emmys. However, Gloria Calderón Kellett, co-showrunner of “One Day at a Time” and director of “United We Fall,” tweeted that she is “glad to be on the Exec committee to make a change” in upcoming years.
