The 76th Annual Primetime Emmys are officially in the history books and boy oh boy, Latinos were in the house. The evening featured our gente in every conceivable role from top to bottom. Be it as presenters, winners or even as el Jefe, we were a force at 2024 Emmys and, quite frankly, it’s about damn time.
Puerto Rican Liza Colón-Zayas earned an Emmy for her role in The Bear. Her win marked the first time a Latina has ever won the statue for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy. “To all the Latinas who are looking at me, keep believing and vote,” Colón-Zayas said in her 2024 Emmys acceptance speech. “Vote for your rights.”
Her win helped the FX show The Bear break its own record for most Primetime Emmy wins by a comedy series in a single year. In all, the kitchen drama snagged 11 Emmys, seven of which they got at last weekend’s Creative Art Emmys. Colón-Zayas joins her The Bear co-stars Jeremy Allen White who won Best Actor in a Comedy Series (his second in as many years) and Ebon Moss-Bachrach who also repeated a win in the Best Supporting Actor category.
Sadly, Colón-Zayas was the only Latina to take home a major Emmy. Selena Gomez, Sofia Vergara, Nava Mau, and showrunner/director Issa López were all up for top prizes. Gomez was nominated for the first time in the Outstanding Actress category for her role as Mabel in Only Murders in the Building. Sofia Vergara was nominated in the Outstanding Lead Actress for a limited series category for Griselda. Nava Mau made history as the first Latina, trans actress to be nominated in a major category. She grabbed a nom for supporting actress in a limited series for Baby Reindeer. And La Reina Issa López was up for three separate nominations; outstanding directing, outstanding writing and the coveted outstanding limited series for her work on HBO’s True Detective: Night Country.
As for the fellas well, they certainly added their own Latino-ness to the Emmys. I mean, can we all agree that the Emmys have never looked or sounded as sexy as they did last night when BFFs Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal took to the stage? Actually, no need to answer, the question is rhetorical.
The longtime pals and producing partners were there to present an Emmy. Speaking in English, the pair f informed the audience that the show was missing a chunk of its audience and in an effort to fix that, they broke out into Spanish. Luna took the reins, “Hello to those who speak Spanish in the auditorium and the more than 50 million people who speak Spanish in this country. We are here to present Best Direction of a Limited Series or Movie.”
Luna and Garica Bernal, fresh off the plane from the Canelo fight in Las Vegas, are busy promoting their new series La Máquina. Fitting since, the series features García Bernal as an aging boxer, while Luna plays his manager. Premiering on October 9 on Hulu, the show also stars Mexican Eiza González as García Bernal’s ex-wife.
As he does, John Leguizamo delivered a rousing and inspirational introduction of his own at the 2024 Emmys. He took to the stage giving us a lesson in acronyms and spoke of the organization’s tawdry past. First clarifying that D.E.I. didn’t mean Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, he offered, “The D is for diligence, the E is for excellence, the I is for imagination.” He then spoke of a not too distant past in Hollywood that supported Latino roles going to non-Latino actors. “I saw a lot of brownface. I saw Marlon Brando playing [Mexican revolutionary] Emiliano Zapata and Al Pacino playing Cuban gangster Tony Montana and Natalie Wood play a Puerto Rican beauty named Maria.” He added, “Everybody played us except us.”
“For years I didn’t complain about the limited roles my people were offered,” said Leguizamo. But, “turns out not complaining doesn’t change anything.”He went on to add that he took out a full-page ad in The New York Times asking Emmy voters to acknowledge candidates of color.
And then he acknowledged the ad helped, sorta. “Tonight is among the most diverse list of nominees in Emmys history. Selena Gomez is nominated for Only Murders in the Building.” And, quickly jokes, “She’s been carrying Steve Martin and Martin Short for three whole seasons.” Finally, Leguizamo got to the business of introducing Cris Abrego, the first Latino chair of the Television Academy.
Overall, the 2024 Primetime Emmys were a win for the community. They proved that we Latinos can indeed be leaders in Hollywood.
Leaders by earning historic wins. Leaders by speaking our native tongue on national television in front of Hollywood and the rest of the globe. And, yes, even leading the very organization holding the event.
Yeah, our gente did good last night… We did real good!
