The Emmys handed out all major acting trophies to white performers, despite record levels of diversity among the nominees.
Performers from diverse backgrounds had been thought to have a strong chance to win in many of the categories, including Billy Porter for Pose, who previously won in 2019 but lost out to Josh O’Connor from The Crown for outstanding lead actor in a drama series.
Comedian Bowen Yang was seen a solid contender to win for Saturday Night Live, but lost to Ted Lasso’s Brett Goldstein for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series; and the late Michael K Williams, who was nominated for outstanding supporting actor in a drama for Lovecraft Country, but lost to The Crown’s Tobias Menzies.
The #Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series goes to @TobiasMenzies for @TheCrownNetflix! 🎉 #Emmys #Emmys2021 pic.twitter.com/V7jFdfPyGk
— Television Academy (@TelevisionAcad) September 20, 2021
White actors swept all 12 lead and supporting races across the comedy, drama and limited series categories, despite diverse performers making up 44% of acting nominees.
Last year saw four black actors winning major categories – Euphoria star Zendaya, Watchmen’s Regina King and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Mrs America actress Uzo Aduba.
Michaela Coel became the first black woman to win the outstanding writing in a limited series prize at the ceremony, for her work on I May Destroy You, but lost out in the outstanding lead actress in a limited or anthology series or movie category to Kate Winslet for Mare Of Easttown.
The #Emmy for Outstanding Writing For A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie goes to @MichaelaCoel for I May Destroy You (@HBO)! This is Michaela’s first #Emmys win for writing! ✨ #Emmys2021 pic.twitter.com/Mrz7PlwKnm
— Television Academy (@TelevisionAcad) September 20, 2021
Other diverse performers who were overlooked included Pose star Mj Rodriguez, Saturday Night Live star Kenan Thompson, The Flight Attendant‘s Rosie Perez and This Is Us star Sterling K Brown.
Early in the evening, host Cedric The Entertainer joked about the potential lack of diversity in the winners, saying: “The good news is there are a lot of black people nominated tonight.
“Like my dawg Anthony Anderson. This is Anthony’s 11th nomination, but tonight he’s up against Michael Douglas and Ted Lasso.
“So good luck, partner, but I’ve got to say, looks like it’s still hard out here for a pimp.”
So we’re back to — and always will be — #EmmysSoWhite.
— Preston Mitchum, he/him (@PrestonMitchum) September 20, 2021
The hashtag #Emmyssowhite trended on Twitter, with lawyer and civil rights advocate Professor Preston Mitchum, who is director of advocacy and government affairs at LGBT charity The Trevor Project, writing: “So we’re back to — and always will be — #EmmysSoWhite.”
The Oscars and the Baftas have also been criticised for the dominance of white winners and nominees in recent years.
For the past two years, the Television Academy, which votes on the Emmys, has increased its number of actors of colour.
Away from the acting categories, it was a history-making night for RuPaul, who scored his 11th prize, the most Emmy wins by a person of colour, as RuPaul’s Drag Race was named outstanding competition programme.