The Primetime Emmy Awards are meant to celebrate the best television has to offer, but this year’s winners have left some netizens questioning whether the winners’ list truly reflects that.
After familiar names dominated the event and a handful of shows swept multiple categories, frustrated TV fans called out what they see as an increasingly predictable pattern of people of color getting snubbed.
After all 12 major acting awards went to White performers, the “#EmmysSoWhite” hashtag trended on social media, echoing similar outrage from the event’s 2021 edition.
“We need to defund the Emmys, like what is this,” one user commented, sharing a grid collage of all the actors who won.
All 12 major acting awards went to White performers at the 2026 Emmys
Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images
As the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards unfolded on Monday, September 14, at the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles and checked off one acting category after another, a section of the viewers grew furious by the minute.
Many argued that Sterling K. Brown deserved to win the Lead Actor in a Drama Series award for Paradise over Noah Wyle for The Pitt.
Some were surprised that Rhea Seehorn took home the Lead Actress in a Drama Series award for Pluribus over Zendaya’s performance in Euphoria or Chase Infiniti’s in The Testaments.
Matthew Rhys made Emmy history by becoming the first person ever to win two lead acting prizes in a single night and the first man to win lead-acting Emmys across all three major genres, comedy, drama, and limited series.
While most agreed that Matthew Rhys winning Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for Widow’s Bay could not be debated, his second award of the night, Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series/Movie for The Beast in Me, should have gone to Oscar Isaac for Beef, a lot of viewers said.
Several also felt that Abbott Elementary’s Janelle James was “overdue” for an Emmy as she got beat by Widow’s Bay breakout Kate O’Flynn for Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.
The Pitt‘s Sepideh Moafi lost the Supporting Actress in a Drama Series award to The Diplomat‘s Allison Janney, who is now an eight-time Emmy winner.
Jean Smart took home her fifth consecutive Emmy for Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for Hacks, defeating Abbott Elementary’s Quinta Brunson and The Bear’s Ayo Edebiri.
Stephen Root won Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for Widow’s Bay over The Four Seasons‘ Colman Domingo and Abbott Elementary‘s Tyler James Williams.
No actresses of color were nominated in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie, which went to Remarkably Bright Creatures‘ Sally Field.
Netizens went up in arms over Emmy allegedly “snubbing” people of color
The lack of non-White winners in the acting categories soon became a major talking point online, with many outright bashing the Emmys for their “bias.”
“All the unbelievable Black and Brown talent I witnessed on television in the last year, and you’re telling me the majority of them didn’t even deserve a nomination?” one person said.
“50% of tonight’s nominees were people of color, and the Television Academy voters pretty much chose all the white people,” said another.
A third said, “It’s a shame that exceptional black actors and other actors of color were shut out.”
“The Emmys are so white, and that’s why it’s so boring,” a fourth said. A fifth wrote, “Whiteness prevailed at the Emmys.”
“I don’t think the problem is that the wrong people won. The problem is that poc aren’t being cast in spectacular roles in the first place,” one person pointed out.
However, many also thought that the backlash was an overreaction, and the awards went to the deserving candidates.
“Counting trophies by race is a weird way to watch television,” one argued back. Another protested, “Good talent is good talent. Stop trying to divide us. It’s tiring and old already.”
“Okay, but if they didn’t deserve it over their white colleagues, then what’s the real issue?” said one more. A fourth commented, “These happen to be the best performances. Not everything is about color.”
The lack of diversity in Hollywood award shows has been a long-running debate
The debate was further fueled by a column on the matter by Variety’s Clayton Davis, who reported that nominations for 17 performers of color in 2026 were down from 28 in 2025, a 38% decline.
In 2021, the last time when “#EmmysSoWhite” trended, the number was at 49.
He also pointed out that the only performers of color to win an on-camera or voice Emmy this year were Ernest Harden Jr., for appearing as a guest actor on The Pitt, and Octavia Spencer, for narrating Lost Women of Alaska.
Behind the camera, Japanese-American filmmaker Hiro Murai won Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series for Widow’s Bay and became the first Asian director to win in the category and the third to win an Emmy, after Lee Sung Jin for Beef and Hwang Dong-hyuk for Squid Game in previous years.
After the “#OscarsSoWhite” controversy and consecutive years of all-white acting nominations, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced sweeping rules in January 2016 to dramatically increase diversity and overhaul its voting membership.
Actors and creative artists also spoke up about the lack of diversity in Hollywood award shows.
“You know, it’s shameful and embarrassing,” Matt Damon told Us Weekly. “There are two years in a row that there are no people of color nominated. That’s insane.”
John Krasinski told the Associated Press, “I think the lack of diversity is a huge shame and it’s a big problem.
Trae Patton/NBC via Getty Images
“You can change the Academy, but if no black films are being produced, what is there to vote for?” Viola Davis weighed in.
“To sit here almost 15 years later, and knowing that another woman of color has not walked through that door, is heartbreaking,” Halle Berry said at a 2016 conference, referring to the fact that she is the only Black actress in Oscar history to win the Best Actress in a Leading Role award.
“Boycott all award shows,” one furious netizen commented
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