Sterling K. Brown won an Emmy last night for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for This Is Us. However, Emmy producers decided that his acceptance speech was taking a little too long, so the orchestra played louder and louder until Sterling was basically forced to leave the stage. He didn’t let that stop him from finishing his speech, though.
According to TVLine, Brown picked up right where he left off once he made it to the press room backstage. “I wanted to thank our writers. A show doesn’t get seven acting nominations without some impeccable, beautiful, thoughtful writing. You guys are our life’s blood. So I want to thank you so much. To our producers and our directors, in particular John Requa, Glen Ficarra and the crazy cool Ken Olin, thank you for your guidance and friendship. And I want to thank Dan Fogelman. He is the Hebrew hammer with which our house is built. He makes me laugh and cry in equal parts, and keeps me coming back for more. In his own little, small special way, he’s not trying to make America great again, he’s trying to make it the best that it’s ever been. I love him for taking me on this journey. I wanted to thank my manager of 17 years, Jennifer Wiley-Stockton. We’ve been doing this for a long time, and it feels like we’re just getting started. I can’t wait to see what’s next.”
Sterling also thanked his family. “To my wife—they cut me off before I got to thank my wife. You’re everything. You make my life worth living, and you gave me two of the most beautiful things that God has ever put on this planet, my sons… Daddy loves you with the strength of a thousand suns. I’ll see you Monday after work. Love you.” Â
Props to Sterling for being an extremely gracious winner and recognizing the amazing people in his life. Now that’s an acceptance speech—whether it happened onstage or off.