The 2018 Primetime Emmys ceremony won’t be happening for another week, but four actors have already made history. They are Tiffany Haddish, Ron Cephas Jones, Samira Wiley, and Katt Williams, who swept the four guest actor categories during the Creative Arts Emmy Awards on Saturday. In addition to this being all four actors’ first Emmy wins, according to CNN, this marks the first time all four awards have been won by black actors.
The best guest actor and actress in a comedy series awards went to Katt Williams for his role as Uncle Willie in Atlanta and Tiffany Haddish for her Saturday Night Live episode last November, respectively, according to Complex. Meanwhile, the corresponding drama awards went to Samira Wiley for her performance as Moira in The Handmaid’s Tale and Ron Cephas Jones as William in This Is Us, according to Deadline.
“I’d like to thank my higher power because without her I wouldn’t be here,” Wiley said during her acceptance speech, according to Deadline. She also thanked her wife, Lauren Morelli, who “every day shows me what real passion is for your work and every hour gives me a reason to bring it,” and gave a shout-out to costar Elisabeth Moss, a.k.a. “the most amazing scene partner a girl could ask for.”
Meanwhile, Cephas Jones thanked his daughter, agent, and This Is Us cast in his acceptance speech, as well as This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman “for giving me the opportunity and being in the room where it happens,” per Deadline. “God bless my mother,” he added. “I know you’re looking down on me.” According to Deadline, backstage, he talked about researching the works of August Wilson and James Baldwin to inspire his performance as William, whom he described as a “flawed man with a checkered past.” “It would have been difficult,” he said when asked if a character like William could have existed “years ago,” according to Deadline. “We are moving forward and moving ahead.”
According to Deadline, neither Haddish nor Williams were present to pick up their Emmys.
