In inspiring Emmys speech, Alex Borstein tells women to 'step out of line'

In her hilarious-turned-powerful Emmys acceptance speech Sunday night, Alex Borstein shared the inspiring story of her grandmother who survived the Holocaust, telling the audience, “Step out of line, ladies.”

For her role as Susie Myerson in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Borstein nabbed the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. On stage, the actress first dedicated her win “to the strength of a woman, to [creator] Amy Sherman-Palladino, to every woman on the Maisel cast and crew.”

She then turned her attention to her mother and her grandmother, who survived the Holocaust.

“My grandmother turned toward a guard — she was in line to be shot into a pit — and said, ‘What happens if I step out of line?’ and he said, ‘I don’t have the heart to shoot you, but somebody will.’ And she stepped out of line,” Borstein explained. “And for that, I am here. And for that, my children are here. So step out of line, ladies. Step out of line.”

Like it did with the live audience, Borstein’s emotional speech also resonated with social media users. “That’s how you do an acceptance speech,” one person tweeted. Even Reese Witherspoon and Jamie Lee Curtis hailed Borstein’s win and speech. “Well said #AlexBorstein. Congrats on your well-deserved win!,” Witherspoon wrote, along with the hashtag #StepOutofLine. “Our new motto,” Curtis tweeted.

This is Borstein’s second consecutive Emmy win for the series, and she was also nominated this year for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance for Family Guy, an award she won in 2018.

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