The 74th Emmy Awards took place Monday night, and while there were plenty of high points in the show, it continued the recent trend of awards shows making controversial headlines.
Not that there were many eyes to see those controversies, anyway – competing with the first Monday Night Football game of the season, the show hit an all-time low in viewership with just 5.92 million viewers, down 19% from last year. Per Deadline, the MNF game earned nearly double the viewers compared to the Emmys.
However, online platforms spanning from news sites to social media picked up on all the moments of the show, from red carpet fashion to long-overdue award winners to Jimmy Kimmel flopping on a bit. In the United States alone, from Sept. 11 through noon on Sept. 14, the Emmys were mentioned 276.94K times, reaching 12.14 billion feeds.
Let’s look at some of the top trending moments of the show. As always, Zendaya stunned on the red carpet and won another award for her portrayal of Rue in HBO’s “Euphoria.”
https://twitter.com/TelevisionAcad/status/1569511365022486532?s=20&t=x4aKuggquxZS-9ybl4njDA
Zendaya also recently celebrated her 26th birthday, which host Kenan Thompson joked about, saying she was now too old to date Leonardo DiCaprio (who, relatedly, just broke up with yet another 25-year-old). Zendaya herself was mentioned 75.13K times during the same time window, a whopping 95% of which were positive in sentiment.
She was one of several Black women to earn accolades at the show, including musician Lizzo and “Abbott Elementary”‘s Quinta Brunson and Sheryl Lee Ralph.
So many beautiful, deserving Black women getting their flowers tonight. I could cry #Emmys #Emmys2022 pic.twitter.com/L5UrCOxZ9L
— McKenzie Jean-Philippe (@McKenzie_JP) September 13, 2022
Ralph, who has been an entertainment staple for decades, finally earned her first Emmy for her role as Barbara Howard in ABC’s heartwarming comedy. The multi-talented performer accepted her award with an a cappella version of Dianne Reeves’ song “Endangered Species,” widely acknowledged as the top moment of the night.
Sheryl Lee Ralph blew the roof off the #emmys with this speech! pic.twitter.com/MFJzIqxBWC
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) September 13, 2022
Ralph was mentioned 85.84K times with an even more overwhelming 97.7% positive sentiment. Many reacted with widespread joy that she had finally won an award:
Lastly, while it was no Will Smith slap, one of the more controversial moments of the show was when comedian Jimmy Kimmel continued a bit he had been enacting with Will Arnett as Quinta Brunson accepted her award for “Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series.” Kimmel continued lying on the stage as Brunson had to step around him and give her acceptance speech above him. Many argued that not only did it take away from Brunson’s big moment, but it was also the epitome of white male privilege. More than 50% of all mentions of Kimmel this week are negative.
Brunson herself weighed in after the show, playing down the incident, but didn’t rule out confronting Kimmel during her guest spot on his show later this week.
Quinta Brunson addressed Jimmy Kimmel laying on stage during her #Emmys acceptance speech: "I felt like the bit didn’t bother me that much…Tomorrow maybe I’ll be mad at him. I’m going to be on his show on Wednesday, so I might punch him in the face." https://t.co/Bm8Bfhyi0k pic.twitter.com/cMDuZbq0AQ
— Variety (@Variety) September 13, 2022
Beyond the off-screen drama, several past winners cleaned up again this year. “Ted Lasso,” “Succession,” and “Squid Game” returned strong, while new winners from “White Lotus” and “Abbott Elementary” entered the ring.
With lots more engaged dialogue online than passive viewership on TV, perhaps the Emmys may want to consider returning to old formats of broadcast – either moving away from Monday nights or returning to COVID-era online productions.
Author: Kayleigh Jackson
