It was a big night for diversity at the 2023 Emmys with five of the 12 acting Emmys being awarded to performers of color, tying the record set at the 1991 ceremony.
The first two awards of the night made history with wins for The Bear’s Ayo Edebiri and Abbot Elementary’s Quinta Brunson, marking the first time that the supporting and lead comedy actress Emmys have both gone to Black women in the same year. The same was previously accomplished in the drama categories with Viola Davis and Uzo Aduba in 2015.
Edebiri is the third Black woman to take home the trophy in the supporting actress category, after Jackée Harry for 227 in 1987 and Sheryl Lee Ralph for Abbott Elementary in 2022. A year after becoming the second Black woman to win for comedy writing, Brunson became the second Black woman to win for lead actress in a comedy series, after The Jefferson’s Isabel Sanford in 1981.
Niecy Nash-Betts became the third Black actress to win an Emmy in best supporting actress in a limited series, for Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. “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,” Nash-Betts said onstage, referring to her Dahmer character as well as two of the Black women whose death at the hands of law enforcement made headlines in recent years. “As an artist, my job is to speak truth to power and baby, I’m going to do it until the day I die.”
Additionally, Ali Wong made history as the first Asian woman to win an Emmy for lead role on Monday night. Wong received the award for best actress is a limited series for her performance in Beef, continuing the Netflix series’ awards sweep. Her costar Steven Yeun also won the award for best actor in a limited series, marking the first time that two Asian performers from any major awards ceremony won lead acting prizes on the same night. Beef creator Lee Sung Jin took home the awards for outstanding limited series, directing and writing, becoming the first Asian to win all three categories in the same year.
On stage, Lee made a heartfelt speech about inclusion. “I feel like we live in a world designed to kind of keep us separate,” he continued. “Even here, some of us go home with trophies, other people don’t. I think for some of us when we live in a world like this, you begin to think there’s no way anyone can ever understand you or like you or much less no potential at being loved. So the greatest joy of working on Beef has truly been working with the folks up here who loved so unconditionally. Thank you to them. To anyone out there who directly or indirectly was involved with the show, thank you so much.”
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