Emmy Awards: Jennifer Coolidge ’85 Does It Again

Jennifer Coolidge ’85 won her second Emmy Award for her work in HBO’s The White Lotus at the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards on Monday, Jan. 15.

In her acceptance speech, which she said she’d speed up so she doesn’t “get the hook,” Coolidge had a little advice. “I had a little dream in my little town and everyone said it was impractical and it was farfetched, but it did happen after all. So don’t give up on your dream.”

Randy Barbato ’82, executive producer of RuPaul’s Drag Race, took home another Emmy Award in the Outstanding Reality Competition category. Barbato has 18 nominations total, and six wins, all for Drag Race.

The Emmys also paid tribute to the legendary Norman Lear ’44, who died in December. In a show that reunited casts from classic television shows throughout, All in the Family stars Rob Reiner and Sally Struthers came together to remember all those the industry lost this year by honoring their show’s creator.

“Norman brought us together and he created groundbreaking television shows that the depicted real people made us laugh, made us think, made us feel,” Reiner said. Lear can be described by a Yiddish word that translates to the “ladle that stirs the pot,” Reiner added.

“And when Norman … stirred that pot, he wound up changing American culture.”

Scenes from All in the Family and Maude also were included among some of the most memorable TV moments in the Emmy’s 75-year history.

Three Emerson alums picked up Emmys at the Creative Arts Awards, held January 6 and 7.

Nominations for the 75th Emmy Awards were announced in July 2023, but the ceremonies, normally held in September, were delayed due to the 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes.