Rihanna's Savage x Fenty lingerie line has scored a surprising Emmy Award nomination, in what is reportedly the Television Academy's most diverse nominee slate in history.
Riri's huge fall 2020 Savage x Fenty runway show, which was produced in partnership with Amazon Prime, has been nominated for “outstanding choreography for variety or reality programming.” The Fenty mogul will be competing with So You Think You Can Dance and the Oscars for the award.
Much more than a fashion show, Savage x Fenty featured musical and dance performances from Migos, Halsey, DJ Khaled, and, most importantly, Rihanna herself.
Rihanna's nom is one of many marking a shift in the Television Academy. Last year, the Emmy Awards were called out for being so white, however, this year is very different. According to Variety, of the 102 acting nominees this year, 35 went to Black performers, accounting for 34.3 percent of the total slate. For context, the number was only 19.8 percent last year and the previous high was 27.7 percent in 2018.
While opening the nominations, Television Academy chairman and CEO Frank Scherma said, "2020 isn’t just about the global health crisis. This year we are also bearing witness to one of the greatest fights for social justice in history, and it is our duty to use this medium for change.”
Women also made huge gains in the writing and directing categories, making up 36 percent of the nominees, improving on last year’s 25 percent share – which itself was a marked improvement from four consecutive years in which women counted for 13 percent of the nominees.
However, there's still plenty of work that needs to be done. As the LA Times noted, Latino representation in the nominations was, once again, abysmal. In fact, there have been no Latino performers among the lead and supporting nominees for comedy or drama series in the last six years, despite accounting for 18 percent of the US population.
Even so, one can’t dispute the fact that change is happening, and we hope to see it continue. You can find a full list of nominations here and then check out how people are reacting to the slightly more diverse nominations below.
