Writer and actress Lena Waithe became the first African-American woman to win an Emmy for Writing in a Comedy Series tonight for her work on Master of None. She shares the win with Aziz Ansari, the show's creator and lead star. (This marks his second-ever Emmy.)
The winning episode was "Thanksgiving," a chapter in Master of None's second season that revolves around Denise (Waithe's character) and her journey of coming out as lesbian in her teen years, through the process of becoming accepted by her family in her young adulthood. The heartfelt storyline definitely deserved her historic win.
Waithe was greeted with a standing ovation when she accepted the award on stage with Ansari. As if her win wasn't emotional enough, she delivered a sentimental speech where she thanked her loved ones and empowered her fellow members of the LGBTQIA community.
Read through the transcript below:
Wow, wow, wow. Got to thank god, got to thank god, oh my gosh. Oh, Jesus, let me reclaim my time, give me a second. I got to thank God or else I wouldn't be standing here, I want to thank my mother for inspiring the story and allowing me to share it with the world. I love you mom. I want to thank Aziz for pushing me to co-write this, bro I love you forever. Thank you and Alan for creating a show like Master of None where we can tell stories like this.
Thank you Netflix and Universal for creating a beautiful playground for us to play on and shine. Ted and Cindy, we love you, Melina are you magic; Angela, are you a legend; Kim, you are a force. Thank you for making this episode so special. To my girlfriend I love you more than life itself. Alana, my team, my chosen family, I love y'all.
And last but certainly not least my LGBTQIA family, I see each and every one of you. The things that make us different, those are our super powers. Every day when you walk out the door and put on your imaginary cape and go out there and conquer the world because the world would not be as beautiful as it is if we weren't in it and for everybody out there that showed so much love, through this episode, thank you for embracing us, a little Indian boy from South Carolina and a little queer black girl from the South Side of Chicago. We appreciate it more than you could ever know. Thank you, academy, for this. We love you all, god bless you all.
Twitter proudly celebrated in Waithe's win:
