2021 Emmys: The Best and The Worst Moments

The Emmys was Jason Sudeikis’ night. He killed it on the red carpet, wearing a classy blue suit, he won an Emmy for Best Actor in a Comedy Series, his hit show Ted Lasso had 20 nominations in one year, setting a record for a freshman comedy, and he ended the night with a heartfelt acceptance speech.

Despite WandaVision being nominated for 23 awards, the hit show did not manage to win in any major categories that night. Kathryn Hahn, Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany were all predicted to win at least one award, but to WandaVision fans’ misfortune, they did not end up taking an Emmy home.

Even though she didn’t win any major awards that night, Olsen still managed to make headlines when she wore a dress designed by her sisters, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. The Olsen twins have a brand called The Row, and when their little sister was early in her career, she stated that if she was ever nominated for a major award, she would wear one of their designs on the red carpet.

Despite numerous black actors being nominated for awards, no black actor received one of the major acting awards. The late Michael K. Williams was nominated for his work in the show Lovecraft County, but did not win, causing many people to think his nomination (along with many other nominations) were performative, and that the Emmys did not try hard enough to be diverse in their selections.

More than a year after the season finale of Schitt’s Creek aired, the cast got together on the red carpet and on the Emmys stage to present an award. Fans in the audience cheered for them and some were even heard saying that they wanted a new season!

While The Crown managed to win some awards, other time period shows such as Pose, Bridgerton and The Handmaid’s Tale did not get so lucky. In fact, The Handmaid’s Tale set a record for most awards lost in a single night, with it being nominated for 21 awards, without winning a single one.

Carl Clemons-Hopkins, the first non-binary actor to be nominated for an Emmy, represented the non-binary community in a beautiful outfit, depicting the colors of the non-binary pride flag. They were nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for their role as Marcus in Hacks.

We are still in a pandemic and yet almost no one at the Emmys were seen wearing a mask. While vaccination was mandatory, and everyone must test negative, it seemed unfair to some that celebrities can go about their day not wearing a mask, while the rest of us have to wear a mask, vaccinated or not.

Seth Rogen called out the Emmys for not holding the event outdoors, and not requiring social distancing nor masks. According to Rogen, attendees were told that the event would not be indoors, and he claimed that he would not have come if he knew the truth prior to rehearsals. Plus, he was wearing a pretty cool suit while calling people out (we just have to ignore the fact that he totally messed up Hannah Waddingham’s name).

Michaela Coel, director, creator and star of I May Destroy You, became the first Black woman to win an Emmy for Best Limited Series Writing. Not only did she look beautiful in her yellow dress designed by Christopher John Rogers and styled by Zerina Akers, her speech was equally beautiful. She dedicated her acceptance speech to sexual assault survivors.