All Hail the “Abbott Elementary” Queen! Quinta Brunson won her first EMMY Award for Outstanding Writing For A Comedy Series, making her only the second Black woman to win in the category after Lena Waithe and the FIRST to win solo! Peep her acceptance speech, plus her reaction to Jimmy Kimmel laying on stage during her speech inside….
Quinta Brunson joined the winner’s circle at the 2022 Primetime EMMY Awards! And made history doing so.
From viral, hilarious BuzzFeed skits to the EMMYs, Quinta Brunson won for Outstanding Writing For A Comedy Series for “Abbott Elementary,” making her only the second Black woman to win in the category after Lena Waithe. She’s the FIRST Black woman to win solo. You’ll recall, Lena Waithe won in 2017 with Aziz Ansari for an episode of “Master of None,” titled “Thanksgiving.”
The OLAY ambassador created, wrote and is a lead star in the hit ABC sitcom “Abbott Elementary.” She plays a second-grade teacher at the underfunded school who is dedicated to helping her students succeed. She won the EMMY for her pilot episode of her first network show! Epic.
As she went up to accept her award, Quinta had to step over late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, who was laid out onstage after presenting alongside Will Arnett. Apparently, it was a joke of some sort, but many didn’t find it funny.
“Jimmy wake up I won!” Quinta said to Jimmy as she made her way to the microphone. “OK hold my phone,” she said before he gave her a thumbs up, but continued to lie down on stage throughout her speech.
Quinta thanked ABC, Disney, FOX and Warner Brothers, as well as her co-showrunners, comedian Larry Wilmore, her family, her husband, the cast and the crew. Peep her speech below:
In the EMMY press room, Quinta was asked what was going through her mind when Jimmy wouldn’t get up during her acceptance speech.
”I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t really… I know Jimmy Kimmel and I don’t know. I felt like the bit didn’t bother me that much,” she said about the bit after her win. “I don’t know what the internet thinks, but I don’t know.”
She noted Jimmy Kimmel was an advocate for her show’s success.
”I know him. Honestly, it was kind of… Jimmy gave me my first big late night spot and was one of the first people to see Abbott, and one of the first people… He Instagram messaged me that he saw this comedy and thought it was one of the greatest comedies of all time, and he was so excited it was going to be on ABC. So, I think, in that moment, I was just really happy that it was Jimmy up there. I kind of consider him one of the comedy godfathers,” she continued. “I’m a huge fan of Will Arnett, so I was wrapped up in the moment.”
While she didn’t feel a way about it last night, she joked she may punch him in the face later.
”I don’t know. Tomorrow, maybe I’ll be mad at him,” she said. “I’m going to be on his show on Wednesday, so I might punch him in the face. I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Watch the clip below:
Quinta Brunson addressed Jimmy Kimmel laying on stage during her #Emmys acceptance speech: “I felt like the bit didn’t bother me that much…Tomorrow maybe I’ll be mad at him. I’m going to be on his show on Wednesday, so I might punch him in the face.” https://t.co/Bm8Bfhyi0k pic.twitter.com/cMDuZbq0AQ
— Variety (@Variety) September 13, 2022
The Twitterverse was pissed Jimmy tried to ruin her moment and dragged him online:
And she had to laugh it off? No one else had anyone else on their stage. Then they played her off? Stop. That made me so mad.
— Heba Gowayed (@hebagowayed) September 13, 2022
”If #QuintaBrunson stepping over #JimmyKimmel who literally laid in her spotlight on the day she won an Emmy isn’t a metaphor for what it means to be a WOC in a white mans world I don’t know what is,” a twitter user tweeted. “And she had to laugh it off? No one else had anyone else on their stage. Then they played her off? Stop. That made me so mad,” she continued.
Peep more reactions below:
Jimmy Kimmel owes Quinta an apology but the messed up part is every image of her accepting her award has his ass in it.
White men really are insufferable.
— Candice Marie Benbow (@CandiceBenbow) September 13, 2022
Quinta Brunson deserved better than giving her acceptance over Jimmy Kimmel’s “dead” body. #Emmys #AbbottElementary pic.twitter.com/ofP5mkXpvy
— Garin Pirnia (@gpirnia) September 13, 2022
Every woman in the background is NOT amused Jimmy Kimmel. Trash. #Emmys2022
You took away from Quinta’s moment. https://t.co/RTH3VLwJNd
— BlackHawkSCorp (@BlackHawkSCorp) September 13, 2022
Jimmy Kimmel was also part of the stolen moment from Moonlight winning the Oscar… https://t.co/FndDBQmAJu
— George M Johnson (@IamGMJohnson) September 13, 2022
The choice to make Quinta Brunson step over Jimmy Kimmel to get to the mic and then play her off early was atrocious. #Emmys
— Hunter Ingram (@hunter_wesley) September 13, 2022
Yeah, he should have just gotten up. The joke wasn’t even giving what it was supposed to gave.
And to think Quinta almost QUIT writing and acting. In a previous interview with Desus and Mero, she said “if this doesn’t go, I’m going to find another career.”
Quinta Brunson speaking about how if Abbott Elementary didn’t take off, she would quit forever bc she KNEW in her heart it was the absolute best work she has ever written. And now she won an Emmy congratulations @quintabrunson
Interview w @THEKIDMERO and @desusnice pic.twitter.com/fH78ydDBBC
— regina (@regi_nacho) September 13, 2022
Glad everything worked out.
CONGRATS QUINTA!!
Photo:AP Photo/Jae C. Hong/Chris Haston/NBC