Niecy Nash-Betts Crushed the Emmys

January 16, 2024

Laura J. Burns

Laura J. Burns writes books, writes for TV, and sometimes writes TV based on books and books based on TV. She will never, however, write a poem. She’s the managing editor of The Antagonist.

The 2023 Emmy Awards were boring. Nothing scandalous happened. Anthony Anderson was a fine host, not particularly funny, not offensive to anyone. His mom was there to yell at award recipients when they went over their speaking time–which seemed to work, because this show ended before 11pm!

There were no surprises among the winners. Beef won a lot, The Bear won a lot, Succession won a lot. These are all incredible shows starring amazing actors, so congrats to everyone involved! But it’s still kind of boring when you know what’s going to happen. So let’s just talk about the best thing that came from last night’s awards show, and that was Niecy Nash-Betts winning for her role in Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. Nash-Betts got up there and gave a powerhouse of a speech that deserves to be replayed a hundred times in every house in America.

I hope every little girl, and especially every little Black girl–and hell, every woman and every LGBTQ+ person and everyone else who has ever felt marginalized–can take this kind of empowerment to heart. And may we all have the courage to speak truth to power like Niecy Nash-Betts.

Laura J. Burns Author

Laura J. Burns writes books, writes for TV, and sometimes writes TV based on books and books based on TV. She will never, however, write a poem. She’s the managing editor of The Antagonist.

Antagonism for your Inbox

Get The Antagonist by Email

You Should Watch: Beforeigners

I’m going to say five words at you, and if they don’t immediately stir your interest, you should move on from this post. No judgment or hard feelings, but if it’s not for you, it’s not for you. So: Time-traveling Viking solves murders. Yeah? Fantastic. I need to tell you about a little show called Beforeigners. Why is it called…

Emily Chambers

June 9, 2023

Netflix Shits the Bed With the Love Is Blind Live Reunion

Everyone loves a good love story. But not as much as the internet loves a good shitshow. And it got one with Netflix’s bungled live reunion of hit dating series Love Is Blind. The streaming giant is still dipping its toes into live premieres, but their first foray — Chris Rock’s post-slap comeback special — seemed to go off without…

Dustin Waters

April 16, 2023

The Gilded Age Takes a Mulligan

The big reveal at the end of season one of HBO’s The Gilded Age was that Peggy Scott’s secret child, who she thought had died at birth, was in fact alive! Her terrible father had stolen the boy and adopted him out to some other couple, all because he didn’t approve of Peggy’s husband. Or something. I don’t really remember…