Emmys Awards 2021 criticised for excluding people of colour from wins-Entertainment News , Firstpost
While performers of colour comprised 44 percent of the nominations this year, all the 12 major acting awards went to white actors
The 73rd edition of the Primetime Emmy Awards failed to capitalise on its diverse and historic set of nominations, with all major acting awards going to white actors.
While performers of colour comprised 44 percent of the nominations this year, all the 12 major acting awards in the best actor and supporting actor in comedy, drama and limited series genres went to white actors, writes The Hollywood Reporter.
The awards were criticised by several people including actor Poorna Jagannathan. The Never Have I Ever actor took to Twitter to slam the Emmy awards, asking if people could just “build another award ceremony? With a voting body that DEF watches ALL the shows and that’s actually diverse?”
2 thoughts
Can’t we just build another award ceremony? With a voting body that DEF watches ALL the shows and that’s actually diverse? Why’re we fixing something that’s a car wreck?
-Is it weird to wonder why none of the white winners acknowledged the elephant in the room?— Poorna Jagannathan (@PoornaJags) September 20, 2021
Jagannathan found support from Emmy award-winning audio engineer Alexandra Perryman, who said that while the award show featured “Black host, Black announcer hell even Black music. We doing everything but win”.
Preston Mitchum, Director of Advocacy and Government Affairs at Trevor Project also criticised the Emmys for their biased outlook.
Several other social media users also slammed the Emmys for the controversy, with the hashtag #EmmysSoWhite making a comeback on social media. Many social media users wrote that while people watched the award show in the hope that it would show more diversity, the Emmys came back to awarding only white actors year after year. Take a look at a few reactions here:
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
#Emmys do this every year: Nominate a diverse selection of our faves, only to give them to the same white actors and/or stories.
Middle-aged white folks in conflict or British period pieces will win over nuanced, multi-dimensional plots involving characters of color.
— Ernest Owens (@MrErnestOwens) September 20, 2021
a whole bit about five, now six…white people complaining about never having won an emmy… in a show where halfway thru no(?) person of color has won anything. but all kinds of poc have presented, danced, voice-overed, dj’d, hosted… it’s just so rich. ::heavy sigh:: — jarrett. (@JarrettHill) September 20, 2021
The Emmys have seen quite a lot of criticism over the lack of wins by performers of colour. Notably, zero female Black directors have been awarded an Emmy, while only Donald Glover has won an award for comedy for his role in Atlanta.
There were some good moments in the award show. In one of the best moments of the Emmys, Michaela Coel won the Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Limited Series for her show I May Destroy You. The actor’s win was praised by several celebrities including Shonda Rhimes and Kerry Washington.
