On September 17th, 2018, the 70th Annual Emmy Awards was televised. To start things off the Emmys opened with several racially charged jokes, talk of diversity, and even presented a celebrity musical number called, “We Solved It.” All of this satirical banter was charged towards the fact that Hollywood has a lack of inclusivity when it comes to actors, actress, and movie and television productions. Hollywood thinks it has “solved diversity”, but it reality they still have a long way to go. Even though this was the most diverse group of nominees in Emmy history, the joke was still on us, because most the awards would still go to white nominees.
A few nominees that inspired change in the Emmys were:
Regina King
Regina King collected her third statue for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for Netflix’s Seven Seconds. King, an advocate for diversity, wrote about the lack of diversity at the Emmys in 2010, but was stunned by her win, beating out other amazing actresses.
RuPaul
RuPaul’s reality competition series, RuPaul’s Drag Race, won the Outstanding Reality Show Competition. This award has been prominently dominated by shows like The Amazing Race, The Voice, and Top Chef. But this show has managed to break down barriers and win this award at the 2018 Emmy’s.
Sandra Oh
Sandra Oh missed out on becoming the first women of Asian descent to win an Emmy in the Lead Actress category, in either a comedy or drama. Oh had already made history as the first Asian woman to be nominated in her fantastic lead performance as Eve Polastri in Killing Eve, but we were very surprised that she did not win an Emmy this year.
John Leguizamo
John Leguizamo was nominated for Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for Waco. Even though he lost it was still a great honor to be recognized. Later, Leguizamo tweeted, “What can I say? I tried to represent 20 million Latins and I failed! I’m sorry! Underrepresentation is a bitch of a burden!” Hopefully, Leguizamo will not be the only Latino representing the Latin community next year.
We are impressed by the advancements Hollywood has made improving its inclusiveness in producing a different variety of television and movies, but there is still room for improvement. Hollywood could do better representing everyone and allowing for more cultural expression within their productions.