Niecy Nash-Betts Dedicates Emmy to “Every Black and Brown Woman Who Has Gone Unheard Yet Over-Policed”

Carly Thomas
·3 min read
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In an emotional speech at the Emmy Awards Monday night, Niecy Nash-Betts dedicated her award to “every Black and brown woman who has gone unheard yet over-policed.”

Marla Gibbs and Quinta Brunson presented the Emmy for best supporting actress in a limited or anthology series or TV movie, which the actress won for her role in Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.

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As Nash-Betts took to the stage, she called it a “divine moment” and thanked co-creator Ryan Murphy “for seeing me.” She also showed her appreciation for her co-star, Evan Peters, and Netflix.

“Every single person who voted for me, thank you,” she added. “And my better half, who picked me up when I was gutted from this work, thank you.”

Nash-Betts also thanked herself “for believing in me and doing what they said I could not do. And I want to say to myself in front of all you beautiful people: ‘Go on, girl, with your bad self. You did that!'”

Lastly, in a powerful message, she noted that she was accepting the award “on behalf of every Black and Brown woman who has gone unheard yet over-policed, like Glenda Cleveland [who Nash-Betts played in Dahmer — Monster], like Sandra Bland, like Breonna Taylor. As an artist, my job is to speak truth to power, and baby, I’m going to do it until the day I die.”

Before leaving the stage, the actress also yelled to her mom, who she brought as her guest, “Mama, I won!”

Backstage, Nash-Betts expanded on why it’s so important to give yourself a pat on the back, saying, “I’m the only one who knows what it cost me. I’m the only one who knows how many nights I cried because I couldn’t be seen for a certain type of role. I’m the one who knows what it was like to go through divorce on camera and still have to pull up and show out, and you have children and a whole life.”

“I’m proud of myself, I’m proud that I did something people said I could not do because I believed in me. And sometimes people don’t believe in themselves, and I hope my speech was a delicious invitation for people to do just that. Believe in yourself and congratulate yourself. Sometimes you’ve got to encourage what? Yourself. And that’s why it’s not called mama-esteem, them-esteem, us-esteem, it’s called self-esteem because nobody got to believe it but you,” she added, drawing applause from the room.

Nash-Betts beat out Annaleigh Ashford (Welcome to Chippendales), Maria Bello (Beef), Claire Danes (Fleishman Is In Trouble), Juliette Lewis (Welcome to Chippendales), Camila Morrone (Daisy Jones & the Six) and Merritt Wever (Tiny Beautiful Things).

Anthony Anderson hosted the 75th annual Emmy Awards, which were held at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on Jan. 15. The complete winners list can be found here.

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