Emmys 2021: The Crown dominates, streamers get ahead, and three more talking points

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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: