After a brief surge of performers of color winning Emmys, the awards had fallen back into old habits — until Monday night's ceremony, which saw 12 of this year's awards go to performers of color.
In 2020, Black performers earned a record seven wins for acting in the drama, comedy and limited series categories. That year, which included the turbulent summer of the George Floyd protests, saw a huge jump from previous years in terms of Emmy nominations for black performers. Over the five years leading up to 2020, 14% of nominees in the comedy, drama and limited series acting categories were Black. In 2020, 33% were crowned with a record number of winners.
But was it just a temporary problem? In 2021, a year dominated by shows with majority white casts like “The Crown” (which recorded a historic sweep), “Ted Lasso,” “The Queen's Gambit” and “Hacks,” Black performers only won awards as guests (Courtney B. Vance in the now canceled “Lovecraft Country” and Maya Rudolph and Dave Chappelle for “Saturday Night Live”).
The following year, 2022, records were broken for winners of Asian descent thanks to “Squid Game,” with historic wins in many categories, including lead actor in a drama (Lee Jung-jae) and guest actress in a drama ( Read You). -my). The black artists won the award for guest actor in a drama (Colman Domingo for “Euphoria”) and lead actress in a drama (Zendaya, repeating for “Euphoria”).
At the 2023 Emmy Awards (delivered in January 2024 due to last year's actors and writers strikes) diversity came back strong.
This year there were five black winners in the comedy, drama and limited series categories, one more in short form and four more for non-acting, non-on-camera performances, including one for a certain former president.
Add in the two Asian American winners for lead performance in a limited series, and that's 12 artists of color collecting trophies tonight and at the Creative Arts Emmys last week.
At the Creative Arts Emmys, winners included Sam Richardson (guest actor in a comedy on “Ted Lasso”), Jasmine Guy (actress, short comedy or drama series on “Chronicles of Jessica Wu”), Storm Reid (guest actress on a drama series for “The Last of Us”), RuPaul (reality/competition host of “RuPaul's Drag Race,” her 14th win), Keke Palmer (a historic game show host win for “Password”) , Maya Rudolph (voice-over character on “Big Mouth”; her fifth Emmy) and former President Barack Obama (narrator of “Working: What We Do All Day”; her second narration Emmy).
On Monday's Primetime Emmy stage, Niecy Nash-Betts won for her supporting work on the limited series “Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,” Ayo Edebiri for her supporting work on the comedy series “The Bear” and Quinta Brunson for starring in the comedy series she created, “Abbott Elementary.”
Additionally, Ali Wong (the first actress of Asian descent to win an Emmy for lead actor) and Steven Yeun won as leads in “Beef,” adding to the show's dominance in the limited series categories. It picked up three more trophies, including awards for limited series, directing and writing (making writer, director and creator Lee Sung Jin a triple winner and actor and producer Yeun a double winner), bringing its total to eight.
The sample size from 2020 to now isn't large enough for any statistician to take seriously, but just as no year should be cause for panic, condemnation, or strong positive conclusions, another year of diverse winners could be a sign of where the Emmys are headed.
