Watch Sterling K. Brown’s full Emmys acceptance speech for This Is Us win
By Reed Gaudens
After winning Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for This Is Us, Sterling K. Brown’s acceptance speech was cut off. Watch the backstage video of the Emmy winner’s full thank you.
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During last night’s 69th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards presentation, This Is Us fell short of grabbing wins for its 10 nominations, but Sterling K. Brown represented the Pearson clan with his deserved win for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. Fans of the NBC smash can attest: He’s a lead actor, and he’s outstanding. Story checks out.
However, when Sterling K. Brown took the stage to accept his Emmy Award, his moment of gratitude (which held more weight than last year’s win for his role in the limited series The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story) was abruptly cut off. What gives? Of course, award shows can never rein in the time constraint and run way over the allotted few hours. Rather than cutting bits that don’t land, such as that awful normalization of former press secretary Sean Spicer, the Emmys started clipping acceptance speeches. Although Oscar winners Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon weren’t cut off, Sterling K. Brown’s speech was snipped before he could even thank his wife.
Thankfully, Variety caught up with the newly minted Outstanding Lead Actor winner backstage in the press room and granted Brown the opportunity to give his full speech the way he had intended. In true Sterling K. Brown fashion, the speech was equal parts funny and emotional, leaving us laughing and crying in all the right places, and it’s all credit to his eloquence and command as a speaker. No wonder he’s a two-time Emmy winner.
Prior to being played off, Brown offered his gratitude to both of his on-screen fathers, Milo Ventimiglia and Ron Cephas Jones, as well as the rest of the “best white TV family that a brother has ever had.” But he wanted to thank the amazing This Is Us writers, the “Hebrew hammer with which our house is built” Dan Fogelman, his manager of 17 years, and his wife Ryan Michelle Bathe and their two sons. Like Beth once said, Brown says he was “buggin’ out” over his win.
Watch Sterling K. Brown’s full Emmys acceptance speech and an additional Q&A with the historic winner from Variety in the video below!
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Admittedly, it’s not a good look for the Academy to cut off an actor’s acceptance speech, but it looks even worse because of the gravity of Brown’s win. A black actor hadn’t won the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series award for 19 years. Let the winner have his moment to celebrate his accomplishment regardless of the historic broken record and regardless of running over time. How does two more minutes of gratitude hurt anyone?
It goes without saying, but we’ll definitely be seeing This Is Us and the whole Pearson clan back at the Emmys next year, and we already can’t wait to cheer them on. Until then, congratulations, Sterling K. Brown!
This Is Us returns for Season 2 on Tuesday, Sept. 26 at 9/8c on NBC.