John Legend is officially a legend. On Sunday, September 9, Legend won an Emmy at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards for his work on “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert.” With this win, the actor and singer became the first black man to achieve EGOT status, which means Legend has won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony — a collection of awards held by only 12 other people.
Legend and his fellow composers, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, each took home a Creative Arts Emmy for their work on “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert,” placing all three men in the coveted EGOT group. However, what makes Legend’s win so legendary is that he is the first black man to receive the exclusive status. The first black woman to reach EGOT status was Whoopi Goldberg. She received the honor in 2002 after she won a Daytime Emmy for outstanding class special for “Beyond Tara: The Extraordinary Life of Hattie McDaniel,” according to Billboard.
But besides being the first black man to receive this honor, Legend also tied for the youngest person to ever achieve EGOT status. According to The Huffington Post, Legend, 39, is tied with “Frozen” and “The Book of Mormon” songwriter Robert Lopez, who had just turned 39, the youngest at the time to complete the quadfecta.
The “All of Me” singer has won 10 Grammys so far during his music career, a Tony for best play revival as a co-producer of “Jitney” and Oscar in 2015 for best original song for “Glory,” which was featured in the movie “Selma,” HuffPost reports.
Legend celebrated his win Sunday with his fellow composers, sharing a picture on Instagram and captioning it, “So happy to be part of this team. So honored they trusted me to play Jesus Christ. So amazed to be in such rarefied air.”
To celebrate the momentous occasion, Legend’s wife, Chrissy Teigen, posted several pictures in honor of Legend, including sharing the picture of Legend and his fellow composers, captioning the photo, “EGOT GOATS.”
Teigen then shared a photo of her affectionately kissing Legend on the cheek, writing, “my incredible man. what a surreal life.”
But perhaps the sweetest moment was when Teigen shared this video of Legend placing his award alongside his other trophies. Legend looks up at his newest award in admiration, as Teigen whispers, “Perfect.”
The caption is hilarious, though, as it’s a not-so-subtle nod at the fact that Teigen thinks Legend looks like Arthur. It’s both hilarious and cute that Teigen is still able to troll and poke at her husband even during big moments like this.
Congrats to John Legend for this historic win! You are truly are, as your wife says, an EGOT GOAT.