They say all awards shows are for “the gays,” but none more so than the 2024 Emmys. It was so gay, the right-wing New York Post had to claim “bored stars looked like they didn’t want to be there,” then hunt for photos depicting unsmiling winners in a night filled with ecstatic acceptance speeches. Republicans are, to quote Tim Walz, “weird.”
It was an event filled with surprise wins and powerful speeches, but most of all it was really, really gay. If you ever ask “why do we still need a queer press?” look no further than the mainstream media coverage of the 2024 Emmy Awards. In a night that heralded diversity and “firsts,” there were myriad nominations and wins by LGBTQ+ people from Hollywood icons like lesbian actress and Oscar winner Jodie Foster, who took home her first Emmy to newcomers like bisexual director Richard Gadd and trans actress Nava Mau and a retinue of gay presenters, including co-host Dan Levy.
Producer, screenwriter and showrunner extraordinaire, Greg Berlanti, who brought the first gay kiss to the small screen in “Dawson’s Creek,” was honored with the Governor’s Award for his work in bringing LGBTQ+ representation to network television.
None of this was covered by mainstream media. More than 10 minutes of an intro by actors Joshua Jackson and Matt Bomer to Berlanti’s award and then his speech—totally ignored by major outlets. Groundbreaking TV by Berlanti that has forged a retinue of programming that normalized queerness and introduced trans and nonbinary actors and characters deemed unworthy of coverage.
Berlanti holds the record for having the most TV series in production at the same time — 14 shows. Among the hits throughout his career: “Dawson’s Creek,” “Brothers & Sisters,” “Everwood,” “Political Animals,” “Riverdale,” “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,” “You” and The CW’s Arrowverse compendia of programming.
The Governors Award came about two-thirds through the Emmys, but it was one of the most moving parts of an evening in which speeches brought out the ugly cry time and again.
Berlanti said, “There wasn’t a lot of gay characters on television back then, and I was a closeted gay kid, and it’s hard to describe how lonely that was at the time.”
Berlanti continued. “There was no Internet to connect with other queer kids, no LGBTQ+ advocacy groups in schools. Back then, the only way to tell if another kid might be gay was if he also watched ‘Dynasty,’ ‘Dallas’ and could name all four of the ‘Golden Girls.’”
The audience laughed loudly at that last bit.
Berlanti spoke movingly of how the 1980s AIDS epidemic introduced the first images of openly gay men on TV that Berlanti saw “men holding hands with other men, marching and fighting for their lives.”
He said, “They gave me hope that I might one day have their courage to come out and share my truth with the world.”
Berlanti did and has.
He closed a long list of thank yous with “my soulmate, my husband, Robbie Rogers,” who executive produced the Emmy-nominated “Fellow Travelers,” which co-starred Bomer and was about the 1950s Lavender Scare.
Unsurprisingly, mainstream headlines were about the big winners—“Shogun,” which won outstanding drama and 18 other awards and “The Bear,” the comedy people argue isn’t a comedy, which won 11 awards.
But it was also the surprises that took hold of the night and created among the most powerful and moving moments.
Netflix’s viral hit “Baby Reindeer” won outstanding limited series or anthology, with creator Richard Gadd taking home trophies for lead actor and writing and each of his speeches urged some new way of viewing the world, each other and taking risks on TV in a landscape that has become risk-averse.
“No slump is ever broken without a willingness to take risks,” Gadd said in one speech. “If ‘Baby Reindeer’ has proved anything, it’s that there’s no set formula to this — that you don’t need big stars, proven I.P., long-running series, catchall storytelling to have a hit.”
Gadd said, “The only constant across any success in television is good storytelling — good storytelling that speaks to our times. So take risks, push boundaries, explore the uncomfortable, dare to fail in order to achieve.”
It was “Baby Reindeer” that introduced Mexican trans actress Nava Mau, who was nominated for the best supporting actress award—a first for the Emmys. Her co-star in “Baby Reindeer,” Jessica Gunning, won the award.
Mau shared an emotional moment with “Live From E!” host, trans actress Laverne Cox, on the red carpet at the 2024 Emmy Awards where Cox hugged her and said she was so proud of her.
Foster won the first Emmy of her career after four nominations for Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for her portrayal of Detective Elizabeth Danvers in “True Detective: Night Country.” She highlighted the importance of the story the show told, thanking, “mostly the indigenous people of Northern Alaska. They just told us their stories and they allowed us to listen. It was love, love, love. And when you feel that, something amazing happens. It’s deep and wonderful and it’s older than this place in this time. And that’s just the message, which is love and work equals art.”
Foster also said, “and the love of my life, my wife. Thank you so much.” (Her wife is actress and director Alex Hedison.)
Politics hovered over much of the night with nominee Selena Gomez and Candice Bergen referencing “childless cat ladies.” A deeply emotional first-time winner, Liza Colón-Zaya, said “to all the Latinas who are looking at me, keep believing and vote. Vote for your rights.”
Colón-Zaya is the first Latina to win in her category, for supporting actress in a comedy series for her portrayal of Tina Marrero in “The Bear.” Colón-Zaya, a well known New York stage actress, beat out veteran comedians Carol Burnett and Philadelphia’s Sheryl Lee Ralph and Oscar winner Meryl Streep in the category.
In addition to all the queerness of the Emmys, racial and ethnic diversity in the nominees and winners was a highlight of an awards ceremony which has in past years been cited for its overwhelming whiteness. In addition to Colón-Zaya, Anna Sawai made history as the first Japanese actress and the first Asian performer to win in the lead actress in a drama series category at the Emmys for her role in “Shogun.”
Sawai said, “I was crying before my name was announced. I’m a mess today.”
She ended her speech saying, “This is to all the women who expect nothing and continue to be an example for everyone. Thank you so much.”
John Leguizamo had a surprising and dynamic and no doubt for many, discomfiting segment at the Emmys. The actor and activist praised the diversity of the night’s awards as a welcome change, but was there to highlight the poor treatment and often blatantly racist representations of Latinx performers over decades on TV before introducing Cris Abrego, the first-ever Latino Chair of the Television Academy.
Leguizamo applauded the “beautiful and diverse” crowd and said growing up in Jackson Heights, he “didn’t know that people like me could be actors.”
He said, “At 15, I didn’t know the word representation, but I saw a lot of brownface.”
Leguizamo noted non-Latin actors filling roles of Latino characters, including “Marlon Brando playing Emiliano Zapata and Al Pacino playing Cuban gangster Tony Montana and Natalie Wood playing a Puerto Rican beauty named Maria.”
Doing multiple imitations of the bad old days of Latin stereotypes, he said, “I didn’t see a lot of people on TV who looked like me.”
He said, “Of course, there was always [I Love Lucy’s] Ricky Ricardo,” and noted “Looney Tunes” cartoon mouse Speedy Gonzales and his “lethargic, useless sidekick” Slowpoke Rodriguez.
“And that’s how we saw ourselves because that’s all we saw of ourselves,” he said. “I used to watch ‘Star Trek’ and think, ‘Wow, in the future there ain’t gonna be no Latin people.’”
Leguizano said, “For years, I didn’t complain about the limited roles my people were offered… Turns out not complaining doesn’t change anything. So for the past few years, I’ve been complaining.”
Leguizamo recently took out a page in the New York Times calling on Emmy voters to nominate his fellow peers of color in “not just one category, but ALL categories.”
So if there was a takeaway for the night, it was that diversity matters, representation matters and stories that include all of us are in fact the ones that resonate most deeply with viewers. When you can see yourself, you can be yourself—it was a message repeated again and again throughout a ceremony that was an exhilarating paean to talent and drive and perseverance. More of this to come, we hope.
