Philly’s Quinta Brunson makes history at Emmys

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer

Quinta Brunson of “Abbott Elementary” earned a historic win at the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards, in a Martin Luther King Jr. Day ceremony that was finally held four months late after a turbulent year of strikes in Hollywood.

Brunson won best actress in a comedy for the show she created, ABC’s “Abbott Elementary,” becoming the first Black woman to win the award in more than 40 years and the first from a network show to win it in more than a decade.

“I am so happy to be able to live my dream and act out comedy,” Brunson said during her acceptance, fighting back tears.

Brunson had won a writing Emmy for “Abbott Elementary,” her mockumentary about a predominantly Black and chronically underfunded grade school in Philadelphia, but this was her first for acting. Isabel Sanford of “The Jeffersons” was the only previous Black woman to win the category in 1981.

The show held on the King holiday saw three Black women win major awards: Brunson, Ayo Edebiri, winning best supporting actress for “The Bear,” and Niecy Nash-Betts, who won best supporting actress in a limited series for “Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.”

On the Netflix show, Nash-Betts played a neighbor of the serial killer whose complaints to authorities about his behavior go unheeded.

“I accept this award on behalf of every Black and brown woman who has gone unheard and over-policed,” she said.

“Everybody having fun at the chocolate Emmys tonight?” host Anthony Anderson said during the show. “We are killing it tonight! … This is like MLK Day and Juneteenth all rolled up in one!”