2021 Emmys: The Crown Dominates, Streamers Get Ahead, Three More Talking Points

The 2021 Emmy Awards took place on Sunday, with attendees from Los Angeles and London as the ceremony reverted to an in-person format.

Only a limited number 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 the job. On the way to the evening, The crown and The Mandalorian were at the top of this year’s nominations.

During the ceremony, The Crown, The Queen’s Gambit and Ted lasso won the biggest prizes of the evening. Easttown mare has also won several leading wins, including Outstanding Leading 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, Kate Winslet’s speech about her detective in Easttown mare being a “middle aged, flawed and imperfect mother who made us all feel validated”, Michaela Coel dedicates her victory to “every survivor of sexual assault.” Kudos also to Olivia Colman, who we’re pretty sure got paged for shouting “Michaela Coel, damn yeah!” (or similar) in his own speech of acceptance. (EH)

Concerns related to Covid

The coronavirus pandemic, as we know, has made its way into many speeches overnight. Seth Rogen criticized the event’s perceived lack of Covid metrics, calling it ‘crazy’, while host Cedric the Entertainer joked that the vaccine did not swell his testicles, referring to the comments by Nicki Minaj this week. Ewan McGregor and Kate Winslet, meanwhile, were among the winners to thank the crews on their shows for protecting them during filming. (EH)

All-white winners in the main categories

Despite calls and efforts to secure major awards to recognize the work of actors of color, the white actors won all 12 acting grand prix at the ceremony on Sunday. This applies to both main and supporting actor and actress trophies in the Drama, Comedy and Limited Series or Anthology or Film categories. This despite the fact that – as reported Hollywood journalist – artists of color made up 44 percent of this year’s nominees. (CM)

The crown win big

Netflix’s British Royal Saga was crowned Outstanding Drama Series in one of its many wins of the evening. With seven trophies, he established himself as the flagship of the 2021 Emmy Awards. Many of his stars have won acting awards, including a tearful Olivia Colman, a laughing Josh O’Connor, Tobias Menzies and Gillian Anderson. Its director Jessica Hobbs also triumphed, as well as creator Peter Morgan. (CM)

A good evening for streamers

The crown, a Netflix series, won Outstanding Drama Series, one of the night’s top three awards. An Outstanding Comedy Series was awarded to Ted lasso, an Apple TV + program, while The Queen’s Gambit, another Netflix show, won the Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series award. In other words: Streamers dominated TV’s biggest night, and the streaming wars aren’t going to abate anytime soon. (CM)

Follow the ceremony as it unfolded with our live blog: