The Emmys are coming in for some serious criticism after Sunday night’s ceremony.
Despite record diversity among the nominees, all 12 major acting prizes at the 73rd Emmy Awards on Sunday night went to white stars, prompting #EmmysSoWhite to trend on Twitter.
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Host Cedric the Entertainer joked during the show’s opening, “The good news is there are a lot of Black people nominated tonight. Like my dawg Anthony Anderson… This is Anthony’s 11th nomination, but tonight he’s up against Michael Douglas and ‘Ted Lasso’. So good luck, partner, but I gotta say, looks like it’s still hard out here for a pimp.”
Among the night’s acting winners were Kate Winslet for “Mare of Easttown”, Olivia Colman for “The Crown”, Jean Smart for “Hacks” and Jason Sudeikis for “Ted Lasso”.
Left out of the accolades were nominated performers of colour including Cynthia Erivo, Leslie Odom Jr., Uzo Aduba, Sterling K. Brown, Billy Porter, Samira Wiley, Phillips Soo, the late Michael K. Williams and many more.
Acting nominee Michaela Coel did win a prize — but not in an acting category; instead, she won for her writing on the HBO series “I May Destroy You”.
50 Cent shared an article written by Variety about the lack of diverse winners. As per Complex, he captioned it, “Listen the Emmy’s still has a separate bathroom for coloured folks. I’m gonna put the NAACP awards on the air at the same time and f**k up there numbers 🤔. No they really should be afraid of me I’m different.”
The post has since been deleted.
50 cent addresses the fact that no actors of color won an #Emmy lastnight pic.twitter.com/DewYM8eoLz
— GlockTopickz (@Glock_Topickz) September 20, 2021
His fellow rapper Snoop Dogg also slammed the Emmys in an unfiltered social media post issued on Tuesday, posting a photo featuring a collage of Black nominees from this year’s Emmys.
“Then U wonder why I say f**kall these bulls**t a** award shows,” he wrote in the caption. “They not for us Emmy these nuts in ya mouth.”
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On Twitter, TV fans criticized the lack of diversity among the winners.
the Emmys is like that tv show you're still watching *just in case* it finally does something different
but every year it proves you wrong and does its same old thing again. and again. and again. #EmmysSoWhite
— Ashley Lee (@cashleelee) September 20, 2021
Billy Porter and MJ Rodriguez were robbed. #EmmysSoWhite #Emmys2021 pic.twitter.com/UOBUzwXVri
— Dr. Kath also known as Sweetness (@DocGrassy82) September 20, 2021
50% of tonight's nominees were people of color and Television Academy voters pretty much chose all the white people #EmmysSoWhite #Emmys pic.twitter.com/oTtx1TSxvc
— Brandi Brands (@BBrands26) September 20, 2021
Black host, Black entertainment skits, Black announcer, Black commercials, Black musical breaks, speeches about inclusion.
All Black everything but winners.#Emmys #Emmys2021 #EmmyAwards #EmmysSoWhite pic.twitter.com/8Ih5ZngXhp
— Dana (Store Name) #AmplyBlackVoices Im @ The #TCA (@sagesurge) September 20, 2021
Responding to the criticism, Netflix global TV chief Bela Bajaria said, according to The Wrap, “We did put a lot of support behind diverse shows like ‘Bridgerton,’ we also put a lot of support behind ‘Never Have I Ever,’ which is very near and dear to me, and I wish we would have seen that recognized.”
Bajaria continued, “Ultimately, the voters decide what wins, but I do think it was really great to see such an amazing sort of — if you look at all the nominees — like a really great diverse group of nominees.”
She also added, “The biggest impact is really continuing to support with investment into the storytelling and what shows get made. To me that is going to be the biggest by far impact.”
