Actors shine on TV’s biggest night

by Alan Light, via Wikimedia Commons with permission

The 69th Emmy Awards were staged for the Trump era earlier this month.

Brooke McCormick, Staff writer

The night of Sunday, September 17, The Emmys celebrated TV in style. Stephen Colbert hosted TV’s biggest night, not surprisingly featuring multiple Trump jokes within his opening monologue. The star-studded show awarded many deserving actors, making it an enjoyable night for the audience both in attendance and at home.

There were many great actors that received awards Sunday night for their hard work. To start, Julia Louis-Dreyfus took home the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her role in Veep, while Donald Glover was awarded the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy series for his role in Atlanta.

On the other hand, the winner for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series was Sterling K. Brown for his role as Randall Pearson in This Is Us, while Elisabeth Moss took home the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. The TV shows that won big overall was The Handmaid’s Tale for Outstanding Drama Series and Veep for Outstanding Comedy Series.

Although Sunday night was memorable for all winners, it was most remarkable for those who made history. Unlike other major award shows, the Emmys was more inclusive as it honored people of a variety of races and sexualities within categories for which they traditionally have not been honored. A standing ovation was given to Master of None star Lena Waithe, who became the first black woman to win an Emmy for comedy writing, sharing it with her costar Aziz Ansari. In her acceptance speech, she inspired others to embrace their differences.

Another historic moment was when Riz Ahmed won for his lead role in the limited series, The Night Of, becoming the first Muslim and South-Asian man to win an acting Emmy. In his acceptance speech, Ahmed used his time to acknowledge the problem within our society that surrounded his character, preaching about injustice within the justice system. Another first was Donald Glover being the first black man to win the Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series.

All in all, the Emmys was an enjoyable night that entertained audiences everywhere, and contained moments that will go down in television history.