
Making Emmys history! Lena Waithe, Donald Glover (second from right) and Riz Ahmed (far right).
Source: Instagram
The 2017 Emmy Awards were held in Los Angeles earlier this week, and this photo from the night is arguably the most significant and special snap that was captured.
Here we see three extremely talented people involved in the television industry (and another dude who is one of these stars’ brothers), who have just made Emmys history and proved that diversity in the arts is here to stay and only thrive further.
Riz Ahmed became the first man of Asian descent to win an award for acting at television’s night of nights.
The 34-year-old scored the gong for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for his stellar performance as Nasir “Naz” Khan in The Night Of, a show which in part examines racism within the criminal justice system
Riz’s onscreen character is a Pakistani/Iranian-american college student, who is accused of murdering a young woman.
Thanking the South Asian Youth Action and The Innocence Project for helping him prepare for his role, he told the audience upon accepting his award: “I want to say it is always strange reaping the rewards of a story based on real world suffering.
“But if this show has shown a light on some of the prejudice in our societies, xenophobia, some of the injustice in our justice system, then maybe that is something.”
Meanwhile Lena Waithe, who stars in Aziz Ansari’s Master of None, was recognised for her role in actually co-writing one of the series’ episodes titled ‘Thanksiving’.
She has become the first black woman to win an Emmy for comedy writing.
Donald Glover, who stars and directs comedy Atlanta, became the first black person to win an Emmy for directing for a comedy. In the snap above, he’s standing next to his brother Stephen, who’s holding his other Emmy from the night, for Most Outstanding Actor.
While Sterling K. Brown is not in that afterparty snap, he slayed diversity goals as he became the first black artist to win lead actor in a drama in almost 20 years for his stellar performance in This Is Us
This extent of diversity in the history of Emmys victories is unprecedented, and if you have any doubt that the world wants more of it, just see these incredibly encouraging social media reactions.