Hannah Einbinder, stand-up comedian and Hacks actress, won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series during the 77th annual Emmy Awards on Sept. 14. Her acceptance speech quickly created a conversation online, with those watching on television wondering what she said to get bleeped by CBS.
The actress is not only a veteran in the comedy scene, but a long-standing activist across a wide range of social and political issues. In her speech, Einbinder thanked the Hacks team for “changing my life in every conceivable way. But not just by giving me a great gig, but by being my friends and being my family.” Einbinder also specifically thanked Hacks star Jean Smart, saying, “I want to thank Jean Smart, who is like the sun, and I just to stand in her warmth. And I also want to thank the cast and crew of Hacks.” Her final words of her speech — where she was bleeped — were, “Go Birds, f*ck ICE, and free Palestine.”
The bleep in Einbinder’s speech came after Emmy Awards host Nate Bargatze created a reward system to deter award recipients from extending their speeches past the allotted 45 seconds. For each second that a winner went over the time limit, Bargatze planned to deduct from his planned $100,000 contribution to the Boys and Girls Club. The monetary deterrent didn’t stop Einbinder from vocalizing her views, with her promising to “pay the difference” for whatever extra seconds she added to the clock. When Bargatze returned to the stage after Einbinder’s speech, he joked about her cursing. “I’ll start a swear jar real fast,” he said.
Einbinder’s Emmys win was her first of four nominations, which she joked about as she took the mic. “Thank you, wow. I really, sorry. I was just really committed to the personal narrative that I had that it’s actually cooler to continue to lose. I was pretty committed to that. Had to be, right? But, this is cool, too. This is also punk rock,” she said. Einbinder was nominated alongside talented actresses such as Liza ColĂłn-Zayas for The Bear, Kathryn Hahn for The Studio, Janelle James for Abbott Elementary, Catherine O’Hara for The Studio, Sheryl Lee Ralph for Abbott Elementary, and Jessica Williams for Shrinking.
Hacks Season 4 aired on HBO Max back in the spring of 2025. Season 5 is reportedly filming now, and will apparently be the show’s last.