Welcome to the VIRTUAL EMMYS!
FOR THE FIRST TIME, STARS CELEBRATE ALL THINGS TELEVISION AT HOME WITH LOVED ONES
Host Jimmy Kimmel kicked off the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards, held virtually for the first time in history, by stating the obvious. “This has been a miserable year,” he said. “We’ve been quarantined and locked down, confined to our homes like prisoners. What did we find in that dark and lonely tunnel? We found a friend who is there for us 24 hours a day. Our old pal, television.” Although Kimmel, 52, was speaking to a stadium of empty seats filled with cardboard cut-outs of nominees, he was soon helped out by some real-life friends. Ozark star Jason Bateman was on hand for some comic relief, and Jennifer Aniston not only presented the first award but also put out an actual fire that flared up while the pair were jokingly sanitising the first envelope. Schitt’s Creek made history, sweeping the comedy category with seven wins. “OK, the internet’s about to turn on me. I’m so sorry,” joked the show’s star and creator Daniel Levy while accepting his third trophy.
Winners were presented their awards by runners in hazmat tuxedos or by boxes that shot out glitter and a fake hand holding an Emmy. When Aniston, 51, eventually made her way back home, she was joined by her Friends co-stars, Lisa Kudrow and Courteney Cox.
“We’ve been roommates since 1994, Jimmy. Hello?” Aniston jokingly explained. The Morning Wars actress lost out on her Outstanding Lead Actress Award to Euphoria star Zendaya.
But the real winner was Kimmel, who managed to see the night through without so much as a glitch. “Just think about having a Zoom with your family and how complicated it is to get your grandma to look at the camera,” Kimmel prefaced the ceremony. “Multiply that by a million and that’s what we’re dealing with here.”
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wasn’t simply just one of the greatest legal minds of our time, but a champion of race, gender and marriage equality and a woman whose life story of love and perseverance inspired millions. Her death at 87 on September 18 from complications from metastatic pancreatic cancer has generated an outpouring of grief from across the globe.
“Justice Ginsburg helped us see that discrimination on the basis of sex isn’t about an abstract ideal of equality; that it doesn’t only harm women; that it has real consequences for all of us,” former president of the United States Barack Obama shared in a statement. “It’s about who we are – and who we can be.”
Ginsburg, or the “Notorious RBG” as she affectionately became known, was nominated for the high court by President Bill Clinton in 1993 and went on to become one of the most revered justices in US history. But her legacy extends far beyond what she achieved in court.
Ginsburg will also be remembered for her resilience. The icon faced discrimination at every stage of her career. She, as well as the eight other women in her class, were forced to justify their place at Harvard Law School – spots that would have traditionally gone to a man. And despite tying first in her class at Columbia (where she finished her degree), she was unable to get a job practising law.
She juggled motherhood and caring for her sick husband, Martin – who was diagnosed with cancer – during her years at law school. And during Ginsburg’s final two decades, she fought a series of her own health issues. Still, she rarely missed a day in court in her almost three-decade tenure.
It was these personal setbacks that also fuelled Ginsburg’s quest for social justice. Her lifelong fight for equal rights helped pave the way for women to take on highprofile roles in many sectors. And her fierceness captured the imagination of a whole new generation of women.
“[I would like to be remembered as] someone who used whatever talent she had to do her work to the very best of her ability,” Ginsburg shared before her death. “And to help repair tears in her society, to make things a little better through the use of whatever ability she has.”