If you didn’t watch the Emmys last night, you missed out on a very exciting event. A lot happened, and we’re excited to report that the show honored a fair number of LGBTQ+ programs.
For one, “Schitt’s Creek,” the show created by father-son duo Eugene and Daniel Levy, swept the comedy categories across the board. The show was nominated for a whopping 15 awards and won a total of eight. “Schitt’s Creek” took home an award in every major comedy category, making history as the first program to take home all four comedy acting awards — Eugene Levy won for Best Lead Actor, Daniel Levy won for Best Supporting Actor, Catherine O’Hara won for Outstanding Lead Actress, and Annie Murphy won for Best Supporting Actress. A win for “Schitt’s Creek” is completely a win for the LGBTQ+ community, as the show situated itself as a major supporter of queer people, from David Rose (played by Daniel Levy) being one of only a handful of pansexual men on TV to the presentation of the family dynamics ingrained in having a queer family member.
“Our show, at its core, is about the transformational effects of love and acceptance, and that is something we need more of now than we’ve ever needed before,” Daniel Levy said during one of his acceptance speeches.
Another winner last night was fan-favorite “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” which took home six Emmy awards in total this year, including Outstanding Competition Program, Outstanding Casting for a Reality Program, and Outstanding Contemporary Hairstyling. Raven, a past competitor on the reality series, also won an Emmy for her makeup skills. Having worked as RuPaul’s personal makeup artist since season 9, the drag queen was lucky enough to take home the award for Outstanding Makeup for a Multi-Camera Series or Special (Non-Prosthetic) at the Creative Arts Emmys earlier this week. The show’s creator, host, and titular character RuPaul Charles also won Outstanding Host for a Reality or Competition Program at the Creative Arts Emmys for the fifth straight year — an award he dedicated to the late drag queen Chi Chi DeVayne who passed of pneumonia in August.
Since winning its first award in 2016, “RuPaul’s Drag Race” has now taken home 19 Emmys in total.
“We love making television,” RuPaul said while accepting the award for Outstanding Competition Program. “It is an honor to make television, and all the kids get to tell their stories on our show and it’s beautiful. A special thank you to the viewers and a special note to the viewer: I know how you feel right now. Just know that you are loved, and don’t give up on love. Believe in love and the power of love, ok?”
And finally, we can’t forget to mention Zendaya’s history-making award. The 24-year-old actress snatched the statue for Outstanding Lead Actress In a Drama Series for her role as Rue in HBO’s “Euphoria,” making her the youngest person to ever win the award for this category. Up against fierce competition — Jennifer Aniston, Olivia Colman, Jodie Comer, Laura Linney, and Sandra Oh — the young actress won for her role as a queer teenager, marking another win for the community (though Zendaya herself does not identify as queer). The show won two other awards at the primetime ceremony: Outstanding Music and Lyrics and Outstanding Contemporary Makeup (Non-Prosthetic).
“I know this feels like a really weird time to be celebrating, but I just want to say that there is hope in the young people out there,” Zendaya said while accepting her award. “I know that our TV show doesn’t always feel like a great example of that but there is hope in the young people. And I just want to say to all my peers out there doing the work in the streets, I see you, I admire you, I thank you.”
