Donald Glover and Lena Waithe won their first Emmys on Sunday, September 17, and made history by doing so.
Glover, 33, took home the award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series for his FX comedy-drama Atlanta, making him the first-ever black director to win in that category. He was nearly at a loss for words while accepting the trophy at the 2017 Emmy Awards.
“Man! First I want to thank the great algorithm that put us all here,” the multihyphenate began. “I want to thank my parents, who are in the audience. This is nuts! … I just love everybody out here for letting me be up here, so thank you. Thank you all.”
With his win, Glover broke a four-year streak of female directors taking home the Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series. He also won Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series on Sunday night, and was nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series. In addition, Atlanta received a nod for Outstanding Comedy Series.
Meanwhile, Waithe, also 33, claimed the prize for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series, making her the first-ever black woman to win in that category. She was recognized for cowriting the “Thanksgiving” episode from season 2 of Master of None with series co-creator Aziz Ansari. Alan Yang won in the same category last year for cowriting the Netflix comedy-drama’s acclaimed “Parents” episode.
Standing alongside Ansari, 34, the actress thanked the LGBTQ community. “I see each and every one of you,” she said. “The things that make us different, those are our superpowers. Every day when you walk out the door, put on your imaginary cape and go out there and conquer the world because the world would not be as beautiful as it is if we weren’t in it.”
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