USA TODAY International Edition
Emmys present a promisingly diverse picture
‘ We have work to do,’ but Sunday’s awards spread the wealth
“Please tell me you’re seeing this, too.”
Rami Malek jokingly started his speech at Sunday’s Emmy Awards, accepting best leading actor in a drama series for USA’s Mr. Robot. For the Egyptian-American actor, it was a joking nod to the paranoid programmer, Elliot Alderson, he plays on the series. But it also summed up the feelings of many viewers, watching the welcome swath of diverse talent that took the stage throughout the three- hour broadcast.
“For me to stand here as not the typical leading man and to come home with this speaks a lot about where we’re headed,” Malek said backstage, where he paid tribute to his Egyptian immigrant parents. “I think we can just keep going further in that direction. It’s not just limited to entertainment, but socially and politically ( that) we continue and strive to be as progressive as possible.”
Malek is among four minority actors to win in acting categories Sunday, of 16 nominated ( up from three winners and 14 nominees last year). In limited series, Courtney B. Vance and Sterling K. Brown earned lead and supporting- actor awards, respectively, for FX’s The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story. Regina King took home her second consecutive supporting- actress honor for ABC’s American Crime in the same category.
People of color triumphed in other areas, too: Black comedians Keegan- Michael Key and Jordan Peele took home best variety/ sketch series for the fifth and final season of Comedy Cen- tral’s Key & Peele. In the comedy writing category, Alan Yang and Aziz Ansari shared the award for Master of None’s “Parents” episode, inspired by their own parents’ experiences emigrating from Taiwan and India, respectively. “Alan told me this story about his dad having to kill his pet chicken and then eat it, and I was like, ‘ Well, that’s incredible,’ ” said Ansari, whose parents appear with him in the Netflix comedy. “We started to marvel that his dad lived in a hut and my dad grew up in a small town in India and here we are, young guys, trying to think of funny stuff to write into a TV show.” For them, to hear their parents’ stories “and then write about it and have people connect to it so much was a pretty incredible experience.”
The diversity of winners went beyond race and ethnicity. Women earned two of the three directing trophies: Susanne Bier for AMC’s limited series The Night Manager, and Jill Soloway, who memorably called to “topple the patriarchy” while accepting the Emmy for Amazon’s Transparent. Leading actress in a drama series winner Tatiana Maslany, who has played more than a dozen cloned women over four seasons of BBC America’s Orphan Black, said she feels “so lucky to be on a show that puts women at the center.” Backstage, she expanded on the importance and responsibility of telling women’s stories. “The response after the first season was so much positivity in terms of representation and the way that young girls were seeing themselves portrayed on screen,” Maslany said. “And the LGBT community as well reached out and supported us.” LGBT talent was recognized throughout the night with major wins for Kate McKinnon, who took supporting actress in a comedy for NBC’s Saturday Night Live, and The People v. O. J.’ s Sarah Paulson, for leading actress in a limited series. Gay actors Lily Tomlin ( Netflix’s Grace and Frankie) and Tituss Burgess ( Netflix’s Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) also received nods, while RuPaul won outstanding reality host for Logo’s RuPaul’s Drag Race. “In the second year of OscarsSoWhite, it was really refreshing to see an awards show that honors inclusion, both in storytelling and the creators who tell the stories,” says Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD. But despite the strides that have been made, Transparent’s Jeffrey Tambor acknowledged there is more to be done as he accepted his second consecutive win for leading actor in a comedy. Tambor plays a trans woman on the critically acclaimed Amazon series and called for Hollywood to give more chances to trans talent, “an important message for Hollywood,” says GLAAD’s Nick Adams, director of transgender media. “Give them auditions. Give them their story,” Tambor said. “And also, one more thing: I would not be unhappy were I the last cisgender male playing a female transgender on television. We have work to do.”