July 18, 2018 The Skanner Page 7
Arts & Entertainment
Emmy Diversity Gets a Boost From Ricky Martin, Issa Rae
More than one-third of this year’s acting nominations went to people of color
LOS ANGELES — Ster-
ling K. Brown and Don-
ald Glover aren’t such
Emmy outliers this year.
More than a third of the
101 acting nominations
for the 70th Primetime
Emmy Awards went to
ethnic minorities, ac-
cording to an analysis
by The Associated Press.
That’s up from a quarter
of the field last year, when
Brown (“This Is Us”) and
Glover (“Atlanta”) won
top acting awards.
Both men are nomi-
nated again, along with
noteworthy first-timers
including Latino actors
Ricky Martin and Penelo-
pe Cruz for “The Assassi-
nation of Gianni Versace:
American Crime Story,”
Tiffany Haddish for “Sat-
urday Night Live,” Issa
Rae for “Insecure” and
John Legend for “Jesus
Christ Superstar Live in
Concert.” Darren Criss,
who is of Filipino de-
scent, was also nominat-
ed for “American Crime
Story.”
Sandra Oh, the Cana-
dian-born actress of
“Grey’s Anatomy” fame,
became the first nominee
of Asian descent in the
leading drama actress
category. Oh, who earned
five supporting actress
bids for “Grey’s,” has
earned critical praise for
her role as a spy hunting
a female assassin in BBC
America’s “Killing Eve.”
“I think we’re all happy
with the direction we’re
going. This is the most
diverse class of perform-
er nominees we’ve had
... which is fantastic,”
Maury McIntyre, TV
academy president, said
Thursday after the nom-
inations for the Sept. 17
“
Night Live”) and Henry
Winkler (“Barry”).
In 2017, the nomina-
tions showed significant
gaps in Emmy progress.
“Master of None” star
Aziz Ansari, who is of
Indian heritage, was the
sole Asian-American to
be nominated for a con-
tinuing series lead or
supporting role. Not a
single Latino was includ-
I think we’re all happy with
the direction we’re going.
This is the most diverse
class of performer nomi-
nees we’ve had ... which is
fantastic
ed in the marquee acting
categories.
The hard-won prog-
ress made by the Afri-
can-American stars and
makers of shows includ-
ing “black-ish” and “At-
lanta” has brought them
creative influence and
visibility that Latinos
and Asian-Americans,
America’s first and third
largest ethnic groups, re-
spectively, are still aim-
ing to achieve. The three
ethnic groups make up
a combined 37.2 percent
of the U.S. population,
according to U.S. Census
figures.
The TV industry has
faced pressure to change
in recent years, includ-
awards were announced.
Only one of this year’s
categories, supporting
actor in a drama, lacked
any performers of color.
In three categories, more
than half the field are mi-
norities.
That includes sup-
porting actor in a com-
edy series, with black
actors Tituss Burguss
(“Unbreakable Kimmy
Schmidt”), Brian Tyree
Henry (“Atlanta”) and
Kenan Thompson (“Sat-
urday Night Live”) and
Tony Shalhoub (“The
Marvelous Mrs. Mais-
el”), of Lebanese descent,
competing with Louie
Anderson
(“Baskets”)
Alec Baldwin (“Saturday
Transylvania cont’d from pg 6
ing (Jim Gaffigan).
In fact, he’s already un-
der her spell by the time
Mavis and her hubby
(Andy Samberg) finally
figure out that the at-
tractive captain’s up to
no good. Can the hope-
lessly-smitten Count be
saved from the tempt-
ress’ plan to spike his
guacamole with garlic
oil? Or might her mind be
changed about the need
to subdue the reformed,
blood-sucking vampire.
Thus unfolds “HT3,” a
kid-friendly comedy di-
rected by Genndy Tarta-
kovsky who also helmed
“HT1” and “HT2.” The
principal cast members
all reprise their roles,
including Adam Sandler,
Selena Gomez, Andy
Samberg, Mel Brooks,
Fran Drescher, Kevin
James, Steve Buscemi,
Molly Shannon and Da-
vid Spade.
While the humor-driv-
en cartoon is laced
with lots of side-split-
ting slapstick and sight
gags that are fun for the
whole family, what really
makes this blockbuster
morality play memora-
ble is its timely universal
message about tolerance.
Hey, it’s okay to be differ-
ent, and please pass the
popcorn!
Excellent HHHH
Rated PG for action and
rude humor
Running time: 97 min.
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GUY D’ALEMA/FX VIA AP
By Lynn Elber
AP Television Writer
This image released by FX shows, from left, Lakeith Stanfield, Donald Glover and Brian Tyree Henry in
a scene from the comedy series “Atlanta.” The program was nominated for an Emmy on Thursday for
outstanding comedy series. The 70th Emmy Awards will be held on Monday, Sept. 17.
ing from a multi-ethnic
civil rights coalition
formed after major net-
works fielded a fall 1999
slate of new shows with
only white stars. Net-
works and producers
have taken steps to boost
opportunities, but with
uneven results.
Leonard James III,
chair of the NAACP Im-
age Awards committee,
said last year that a long
record of fighting for civ-
il rights is behind the sig-
nificant African-Ameri-
can gains.
“We’ve been engaged
with the Hollywood com-
munity for 100 years,”
James said, including
NAACP-led
protests
against D.W. Griffith’s
“The Birth of a Nation”
in 1915, just six years af-
ter the organization was
founded. “I think you’re
beginning to see some of
that work get very posi-
tive results.”
AP Music Writer Mesfin
Fekadu in New York con-
tributed to this report.
Lynn Elber can be
reached at lelber@ap.org
and on Twitter at http://
twitter.com/lynnelber.