A lot of history was made at the 68th annual Emmy Awards on Sunday night in Los Angeles. Game of Thrones reigned supreme, Tatiana Maslany took home an Emmy, sandwiches and juice boxes were delivered by the Stranger Things kids. And Rami Malek won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.
Malek won the award for his portrayal of Elliot on USA Network’s Mr. Robot. He had to beat out tough competition: Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul), Liev Schreiber (Ray Donovan), Matthew Rhys (The Americans), Kyle Chandler (Bloodline), and Kevin Spacey (House of Cards).
The moment was not lost on Makek. Visibily shocked he delivered one of the most beautiful acceptance speeches of the night. Malek’s portrayal of Elliot, a genius, paranoid man with an unreliable mind, captivated audiences. While unconventional, he thinks all the Elliot’s of a the world deserve a chance and he is proud to represent the character. And knows the importance of this win.
I play a young man who I think, like so many of us, is profoundly alienated. Unfortunately, I’m not so sure how many of us would want to hang out with a guy like Elliot, but I want to honor all the Elliots, because there’s a little bit of Elliot in all of us.
Malek, an Egyptian-American, also understands the significance of this win. He recognizes that he is not the typical leading man but thinks that landscape is changing.
For me to stand here as not the typical leading man, and to have come home with this I think speaks a lot about where we’re headed, and I think we can just keep going further in that direction — obviously not just limited to entertainment, but socially and politically to continue and strive to be as progressive as possible.
Later in the night, he celebrated with Leslie Jones, who poked fun at her hacking scandal:
Do you think he could help me catch hacker lmao!! pic.twitter.com/Isk2DTlzC8
— Leslie Jones 🦋 (@Lesdoggg) September 19, 2016
Mr. Robot’s second season wraps this Wednesday. Congratulations Rami!
Source: EW