All Things Primetime Emmy Awards Show

Giselle Wyche

On Sept. 14, the 78th annual Primetime Emmy Awards took place. This year, the show was broadcast live from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. The night was filled with major wins, surprise cameos and viral moments as Mariska Hargitay, of the acclaimed “My Mom Jayne” documentary, hosted the ceremony.

“Widow’s Bay” took home multiple awards, including Outstanding Comedy Series Lead Actor for Matthew Rhys, Supporting Actor for Stephen Root and Supporting Actress for Kate O’Flynn. Hit TV series “The Pitt, DTF St. Louis” and “Hacks” also earned major Emmy honors. Jean Smart and Allison Janney tied an all-time record for Emmy wins, and Matthew Rhys won twice for both “The Beast in Me and Widow’s Bay.”

The noteworthy viral moments of the night included Taylor Swift, who made a surprise prerecorded cameo in a “Law & Order: SVU” sketch, dropping Easter eggs as she tends to do, and referencing her cat’s namesake character. John Mulaney hilariously had a joke censored live on air.

Spider-Man swung by... well, Tom Holland did. Holland accompanied “Euphoria” lead actress Zendaya as the newlyweds made a rare public appearance outside of promoting Marvel’s hit Spider-Man movies. The appearance followed the success of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” which broke box office records throughout the summer.

With every award show, however, there were some controversies. This year’s Emmys were largely apolitical, with minimal activism appearing in acceptance speeches. A few moments touched on civic duty, including Alan Cumming’s voter registration plea and Vince Gilligan’s reflection on political polarization, but the overall tone was one of industry nostalgia and self-containment amid global turmoil and civil conflicts within the U.S.

This year’s Emmys also had the highest number of Black nominees and production honors. However, no Black actors or other actors of color won in any of the major acting categories during the ceremony. For the first time in five years, the winners in the lead and supporting acting categories for drama and comedy, as well as the lead categories for limited series, were all white.

The hashtag #EmmysSoWhite began circulating on social media as viewers expressed frustration with the results. The controversy is likely to open further conversations about the recognition of actors of color receive within the entertainment industry.