As last night’s Emmy telecast drew to a close, one thing was
glaringly apparent. In 2012, the Emmys didn’t care about black actors.
Out of all of the categories, there were three African-Americans
nominated. Don Cheadle earned a nomination for his role on “House of Lies” in the Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. He lost his trophy to Louis C.K. Maya Rudolph
secured herself a nod for hosting “Saturday Night Live.” She went away
empty handed in favor of Kathy Bates. By the end of the show, our only
hope was for Idris Elba
to win for his deserving portrayal of John Luther on the hit show
“Luther.” When he lost, it was made evident black actors are facing
another exclusion from the small screen.
The notion black actors are being shut out of acting recognition
isn’t something new, however, it’s cemented with this fall’s upcoming
television programming season. For all of the new fall shows premiering,
only a handful feature black actors. According to Elev8.com‘s report,
networks have reverted back to the practice of not creating diverse
roles for people of color. Though the bright spot in that dark cloud is Andre Braugher
returning to television in ABC’s “Last Resort.” Even though he has been
awarded two Emmy statues, it still feels as if the Emmy voters threw
him a bone without fully appreciating his work.
In 2010, veteran actress Regina King wrote a heated piece
blasting the Emmys for their lack of diverse nominations. Despite
delivering some of the best acting on television on “Southland”, King
has never received a nod for playing gritty detective Lydia Adams.
2011′s Emmy ceremony saw a diverse group of black actors in the running
for awards. Perhaps, that had a little something to do with the bad
publicity the Emmys endured because of Regina King’s outrage.
We asked our followers on Twitter how they felt about the Emmys being
an indication of the lack of recognition of black actors’ work and the
response was generally the same. Many said, “What else is new?” Others
wondered why there hasn’t been an urban category created. While the
suggestion of an urban category is a decent idea, it’s troublesome
because depending on the arena, the word “urban” is used as a euphemism
when some whites want to call us the n-word, but don’t want to seem
politically incorrect. Nevertheless, that really wouldn’t fly in our
community. A few followers reminded that we still have the NAACP Image
Awards. While the Image Awards do acknowledge black actors’ work, they
tend to nominate actors because of their star profile instead of their
acting ability. Need we mention Halle Berry getting nominated for her
role in “Frankie & Alice” last year despite the film not having been
released yet?
Sure, black actors being ignored when it comes award season is
nothing new. But why should that reasoning continue to be allowed? I’m
not asking for some type of entertainment affirmative action where a
black actor gets a nomination just because they have an abundance of
melanin and talent. At least hand out nominations based on merit and not
potential ratings for the telecast.
For next year’s Emmy ceremony, Kerry Washington
should be recognized with a nomination for her hard-hitting role on
ABC’s hit political drama “Scandal.” Not only is she the first
African-American woman to lead a network drama, she is damn good at
embodying Olivia Pope. If Kerry Washington doesn’t receive a nod, I give
up because the Emmys would officially have said to the black television
watching community, “Your people’s ability mean not a damn thing to
us.” And there’s no way to Olivia-Pope-speed-talk their way out of that
realization.
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