At the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards, no winner was going to talk longer than they should. During his opening monologue, host Anthony Anderson warned the audience that his mom, celebrity in her own right Doris Hancox, would talk them off (and she did!).
It was a night of nostalgia as Anderson kicked off the show with an homage to Mister Rogers with his own Mister Anderson’s Neighborhood, where he recognized that it was Martin Luther King Jr. Day and presented a “small and inclusive diverse choir from Compton” that sang the classic TV themes from Good Times and Facts of Life.
The fun kept coming with a reunion of the Martin cast, featuring Martin Lawrence, Tisha Campbell, Carl Anthony Payne II and Tichina Arnold on a recreated sitcom set; Marla Gibbs, at 92, saying she needs to work 20 more years to close the wage gap; and Tracee Ellis Ross paying homage to Lucille Ball’s famous chocolate belt episode.
The tight, sleek broadcast was the brainchild of Jesse Collins Entertainment, a Black-owned, LA production company run by executive producers Jesse Collins, Dionne Harmon and Jeannae Rouzan-Clay. The ceremony, which ended precisely at 11 p.m., closed with the “free at last” segment of Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, voted by the Academy as one of the most impactful moments in television history.
The 75th Primetime Emmys top winners included Ayo Edebiri, who continued her winning streak with the Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series award for The Bear.
A shocked Quinta Brunson won Best Actress in a Comedy at the Emmy Awards for her series Abbott Elementary. She is the first Black woman to win the award in more than 40 years, the last being Isabel Sanford for The Jeffersons in 1981.
Niecy Nash-Betts won her first Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series for Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. She promised she would always champion Black and Brown women who have been unheard and under police scrutiny and violence, like Sandra Bland and Breonna Taylor.
With his eight consecutive win for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Competition Program, RuPaul became the most decorated winner in the category.
The Daily Show With Trevor Noah took home the Best Talk Series award.
