'Game of Thrones', 'Veep' win Emmys
again, newcomers also feted
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[September 19, 2016]
By Jill Serjeant
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Fantasy drama
series "Game of Thrones" and comedy "Veep" proved repeat winners for
cable giant HBO at the Emmy awards on Sunday, but newcomers and actors
of color also made their mark in a ceremony where election-year politics
played large.
Fan favorite "Game of Thrones," went into Sunday's show with a leading
23 nominations and won a total of 12 Emmys, including for best drama
series, directing and writing. It beat off a challenge from USA
network's "Mr. Robot," as well as Netflix's dark Washington D.C. drama
"House of Cards."
"We're standing up here because George Martin created the world that we
all live and play in," said co-creator Dan Weiss.
True crime was also a big winner.
"The People v. O.J. Simpson," FX's 10-hour dramatization of the former
football player's 1995 double murder trial and sensational acquittal won
nine Emmys, including for best limited series and for actors Sarah
Paulson, Courtney B. Vance and Sterling K. Brown.
Paulson, who played losing Los Angeles trial prosecutor Marcia Clark in
the show, brought Clark along with her to the Emmys.
"The more I learned about the real Marcia Clark... the more I had to
recognize that I along with the rest of the world had been superficial
and careless in my judgment," said Paulson, accepting her first Emmy.
Host Jimmy Kimmel opened Sunday's show with a string of jokes about
Republican presidential contender and former "Celebrity Apprentice" star
Donald Trump.
"If Donald Trump gets elected and he builds that wall, the first person
we are throwing over it is Mark Burnett," quipped Kimmel, addressing
Burnett, the British producer who created "Celebrity Apprentice."
"Veep" star Julia Louis-Dreyfus won her fifth straight Emmy for her role
in the satirical White House comedy in which she plays a graspingly
ambitious and inept president battling to stay in power.
Louis-Dreyfus apologized for what she called "the current political
climate," seven weeks before the presidential election.
"I think that 'Veep' has torn down the wall between comedy and politics.
Our show started out as a political satire but it now feels like a
sobering documentary," she quipped, in an oblique reference to the
presidential campaign.
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The cast of HBO's "Game of Thrones" pose backstage with their award
for Oustanding Drama Series at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los
Angeles, California U.S., September 18, 2016. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
DIVERSITY RULES
Sunday's Emmys were notable for having a record 21 nominees of
color, in contrast to this year's all-white Oscars acting lineup.
Several took home Emmys, many for the first time. Along "O.J.
Simpson" winners Brown and Vance, Egyptian-American Rami Malek beat
veterans Kevin Spacey and Liev Schreiber to scoop his first Emmy for
playing a socially inept computer hacker in "Mr. Robot."
"Oh my god. Please tell me you are seeing this too," said a stunned
Malek, 35.
Indian-American Aziz Ansari shared a writing Emmy with
Asian-American Alan Yang for their comedy series "Master of None,"
while black actress Regina King won for her role in "American Crime"
and African-American comedians Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele
were honored for their sketch series "Key & Peele."
Other Emmy newcomers included Canadian Tatiana Maslany, a surprise
best drama actress winner who beat out presumed front runner Robin
Wright for playing a woman with multiple cloned personalities in
"Orphan Black."
Elsewhere, Jeffrey Tambor won best comedy actor for a second time
for his role as a father who transitions to a woman in Amazon's
ground-breaking "Transparent."
"Saturday Night Live" comedian Kate McKinnon, who plays Democratic
U.S. presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, won supporting comedy
actress, and John Oliver's biting "Last Week Tonight with John
Oliver" won the Emmy for variety talk series.
(Additional reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy and Lisa Richwine; Editing
by Sandra Maler and Mary Milliken)
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