There were a lot of great moments during the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards which aired this past Sunday, but there was one moment in particular that didn’t quite rub us the right way.
This Is Us star, Sterling K. Brown, had a historic win, becoming the first black actor to win the Outstanding Lead Actor award in a Drama series since 1998.
“To all my fellow nominees, I’m a fan. I love you all,” said Brown as he started to accept his award. Everything seemed fine, until (apparently) his acceptance speech ran on a little too long. As he was speaking, the producers began to play the music indicating that his time was up, but he responded saying, “You can play. You can play. Nobody got that loud music. Our writers, I love you. You are life’s blood. Our producers and directors, I love you,” he added. But the producers showed no mercy. The camera panned out and the sound was cut from his mic. The audience was furious, booing after the sound was cut, as well as many viewers, who took to Twitter to express their anger. Many people brought up the fact that Nicole Kidman’s acceptance speech, which totaled 2:46, was not interrupted, whereas Brown’s speech only totaled 1:57.
You can watch his on-stage acceptance speech by clicking here.
Although Brown was unable to finish acceptance speech on the Microsoft Theater stage, he reclaimed his time backstage in the press room, giving thanks to friends, family, and his fellow TV family. The rest of his speech went on for just another 1:25, which may I add, still wouldn’t have totaled the amount of time Nicole Kidman was granted to accept her award.
In regards to “This Is Us” creator, Dan Fogelman, Brown concluded his speech saying, “In his [Fogelman] own little, small, special way, he’s not trying to make America great again, he’s trying to make America the best it’s ever been.”
Watch the rest of his heartfelt speech by clicking here and be sure to let us know what you think of this whole fiasco in the comment section below.