Billy Porter makes history as first black gay man to win Emmy Award for best lead actor in a drama
Other winners include Ben Whishaw, 'Game of Thrones' and 'Fleabag'
By Steve Brown
Words: Steve Brown
Billy Porter made history by becoming the first openly gay man to win an Emmy Award for best lead actor in a drama.
Over the weekend, the Emmy Awards took place and the big winners of the night included Game of Thrones, Chernobyl and Fleabag.
But Pose star Billy Porter made history becoming the first ever openly gay actor to win best lead actor in a drama.
While accepting the gong, Porter said: “”We are the people.
“We as artists are the people that get to change the molecular structure of the hearts and minds of the people who live on this planet.
“Please don’t ever stop doing that. Please don’t every stop telling the truth.”
Ben Whishaw also took home the award for supporting actor in a limited series of movie for his role in Russell T Davis’ A Very English Scandal.
Patricia Arquette also called for more jobs to be given to the transgender community and made an emotional speech dedicated to her sister, Alexis Arquette, who passed away three years ago.
While accepting the award for best Supporting Actress, Limited Series or Movie for her role in The Act, she said: “In my heart, I’m so sad I lost my sister Alexis, and that trans people are still being persecuted.
“I’m in mourning every day of my life, Alexis, I will be the rest of my life for you until we change the world so that trans people are not persecuted, and give them jobs.
“They’re human beings let’s give them jobs. Let’s get rid of this bias we have everywhere.”
Queer Eye and RuPaul’s Drag Race were big winners at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards the weekend before.
Attitude cover star and RuPaul judge, Ross Mathews, took to Instagram to congratulate the long-running show and wrote: “OMG!!! This is so surreal. Last year was a dream.
“This year it’s like we’ve never woken up. I am so proud and grateful that our show has been recognized again.
“I wish I had a time machine to show this to myself at 9 years old. He would’ve just said, “WOW!”
Here is the list of the winners:
Best Comedy
“Fleabag” (Amazon)
Best Drama
“Game of Thrones” (HBO)
Best Limited Series
“Chernobyl” (HBO)
Best Actress, Comedy
Phoebe Waller-Bridge, “Fleabag”
Best Actor, Comedy
Bill Hader, “Barry”
Best Actress, Drama
Jodie Comer, “Killing Eve”
Best Actor, Drama
Billy Porter, “Pose”
Best Actress, Limited Series or TV Movie
Michelle Williams, “Fosse/Verdon”
Best Actor, Limited Series or TV Movie
Jharrel Jerome, “When They See Us”
Supporting Actress, Comedy
Alex Borstein, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”
Supporting Actor, Comedy
Tony Shalhoub, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”
Supporting Actress, Drama
Julia Garner, “Ozark”
Supporting Actor, Drama
Peter Dinklage, “Game of Thrones”
Supporting Actress, Limited Series or Movie
Patricia Arquette, “The Act”
Supporting Actor, Limited Series or Movie
Ben Whishaw, “A Very English Scandal”
Television Movie
“Black Mirror: Bandersnatch” (Netflix)
Variety Sketch Series
“Saturday Night Live” (NBC)
Variety Talk Series
“Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” (HBO)