Emmys 2021: The Crown dominates, streamers get ahead, and three more talking points
Television’s biggest night took place in Los Angeles
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The 2021 Emmys took place on Sunday, with attendees joining from Los Angeles and London as the ceremony returned to an in-person format.
Only a limited amount of nominees were invited to attend, and all had to present proof that they were vaccinated against Covid – as well as negative tests – in order to gain access to the event.
Actor and comedian Cedric the Entertainer was on hosting duties. Heading into the evening, The Crown and The Mandalorian were leading this year’s nominations.
During the ceremony, The Crown, The Queen’s Gambit and Ted Lasso won the evening’s top awards. Mare of Easttown also scored several high-profile wins, including Outstanding Lead Actress In A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie for Kate Winslet.
Here are the main talking points from the 2021 Emmy Awards:
Powerful women
Wonderful women stole the show at this year’s ceremony, from Kate Winslet’s speech about her detective in Mare of Easttown being a “middle-aged, imperfect, flawed mother who made us all feel validated”, to Michaela Coel dedicating her win to “every single survivor of sexual assault”. A big shout-out to Olivia Colman too, who we’re pretty sure got bleeped out for shouting “Michaela Coel, f*** yeah!” (or similar) in her own acceptance speech. (EH)
Covid concerns
The coronavirus pandemic, as it has become known to do, wormed its way into many speeches over the course of the night. Seth Rogen criticised the event’s perceived lack of Covid measures, calling it “insane”, while host Cedric the Entertainer joked that the vaccine did not lead to his testicles becoming swollen, in a reference to Nicki Minaj’s comments this week. Ewan McGregor and Kate Winslet, meanwhile, were among the winners to thank their shows’ crews for keeping them safe during filming. (EH)
All-white winners in major categories
Despite calls and efforts to get major awards shows to reward the work of actors of colour, white actors won all 12 major acting awards during Sunday’s ceremony. This applies to the lead and supporting actor and actress trophies in the Drama, Comedy, and Limited or Anthology Series or Movie categories. This despite the fact that – as reported by The Hollywood Reporter – performers of colour made up 44 per cent of this year’s nominees. (CM)
The Crown wins big
Netflix’s British royal saga was crowned Outstanding Drama Series in one of its many wins of the evening. With seven trophies, it emerged as the top programme of the 2021 Emmys. Many of its stars won acting awards, including a tearful Olivia Colman, a giggling Josh O’Connor, Tobias Menzies and Gillian Anderson. Its director Jessica Hobbs also triumphed, as well as creator Peter Morgan. (CM)
A great night for streamers
The Crown, a Netflix series, won Outstanding Drama Series, one of the evening’s top three awards. Outstanding Comedy Series went to Ted Lasso, an Apple TV+ programme, while The Queen’s Gambit, another Netflix show, won Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series. In other words: streamers ruled television’s biggest night, and the streaming wars aren’t going to ease off any time soon. (CM)
Follow the ceremony as it happened with out live blog:
Good evening everyone! Clémence here taking over from Jacob. We’re two hours away from the start of the ceremony, meaning celebrities should start arriving on the red carpet.
Rachel Lindsay and Karamo Brown are here!
And here are Olivia Colman, Gillian Anderson, and Josh O’Connor, who are all nominated for their performances in The Crown – respectively as Queen Elizabeth II, Margaret Thatcher, and Prince Charles. O’Connor is in Los Angeles, while Colman and Anderson are in London.
O’Connor tells ET he’s the only member of the cast who was in the US (specifically in New York) ahead of the ceremony, which is why he was able to go to LA. He underwent “many” swabs to ensure he was negative for Covid.
Amber Ruffin, Cecily Strong, O-T Fagbenle, and Ken Jeong are here!
I’m hearing on the ET red carpet live stream that Cedric the Entertainer, our host for the evening, has a massive opening segment planned involving many, many celebrities. Looking forward to that!
Speaking of Cedric the Entertainer, here he is on the red carpet! Along with Aidy Bryant, Billy Porter, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, Emma Corrin, and Jennifer Coolidge:
And here is Josh O’Connor (aka Prince Charles in The Crown) representing the show at the ceremony in Los Angeles. The rest of the cast is joining from London, but O’Connor was in New York and was able to fly to the West Coast.
And here is Regé-Jean Page aka Simon Basset, the Duke of Hastings from Bridgerton!
The ceremony is less than 10 minutes away! Now’s the time to read over our predictions...
Emmy Awards 2021: Who will win and who should win
Sunday’s ceremony, hosted by Cedric the Entertainer, will answer the question on everyone’s lips: Can ‘Ted Lasso’ finally lift a trophy? Kevin E G Perry gives his predictions
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