“Hacks” star Hannah Einbinder has won her first Emmy, for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy at the Sunday ceremony. She closed her speech with a shout out to the Philadelphia Eagles, and the first overtly political moment of the ceremony, saying “Go Birds, fuck ICE and free Palestine.” The profanity was muted on the telecast, but the rest of her message made it through.
The actor’s pronouncement follows the announcement of an open letter signed by 3,900 industry figures (including Einbinder) declaring they will not work with Israeli institutions and film companies that are “implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people.” Paramount, the parent company of this year’s Emmy’s broadcaster CBS, was the first major studio to respond to the letter, condemning the boycott with a statement that read, in part, “We do not agree with recent efforts to boycott Israeli filmmakers. Silencing individual creative artists based on their nationality does not promote better understanding or advance the cause of peace.”
During the Emmys telecast, Einbinder opened her acceptance speech acknowledging that she’s lost in this category for the first three seasons of “Hacks.” “I was just really committed to the personal narrative that I had that it was actually cooler to continue to lose,” she said. “But this is cool too! This is also punk rock.”
Otherwise, Einbinder’s speech was filled with gratitude for her colleagues on the show. She thanked creators Jen Statsky, Paul W. Downs and Lucia Aniello “for changing my life in every conceivable way, but not just by giving me a great gig, but by being my friends and being my family.” She then praised her costar and fellow winner Jean Smart, “who is like a sun, and I just get to stand in her warmth.”
As she continued to talk, the tally for the $100,000 Nate Bargatze announced he’s donating to the Boys & Girls — which goes down by $1,000 for every second a winner’s speech goes over the 45-second limit — appeared on the screen and began to decrease. When Einbinder saw it, she said, “Oh, I’ll pay the difference, sorry.”
In the press room following the win, Einbinder opened up about her comments. “I thought it was important to talk about Palestine because it’s an issue that’s very dear to my heart,” she said. “I have friends in Gaza who are working as frontline workers, as doctors right now in the north of Gaza to provide care for pregnant women and for school children, to create schools in the refugee camps, and it’s an issue that’s really close to my heart. For many reasons, I feel like it is my obligation as a Jewish person to distinguish Jews from the state of Israel… Boycotting is an effective tool to create pressure on the powers that be to meet the moment. So the Film Workers for Palestine boycott does not boycott individuals, it only boycotts institutions that are directly complicit in the genocide.”
Einbinder plays Ava Daniels in the HBO Max series, a comedy writer whose career is at a crossroads when she’s hired by legendary comedian Deborah Vance (played by Smart) to spruce up and modernize her material. In the show’s Season 4, Deborah has successfully grabbed her dream of hosting a late night talk show host, and Einbinder has engineered her way into the gig of head writer.
Einbinder beat out last year’s winner Liza Colón-Zayas (as Tina Marrero on “The Bear”) for the win, as well as fellow nominees Catherine O’Hara (as Patty Leigh on “The Studio”) Kathryn Hahn (as Maya Mason on “The Studio”), Jenelle James (as Ava Coleman on “Abbott Elementary”), Sheryl Lee Ralph (as Barbara Howard on “Abbott Elementary”) and Jessica Williams (as Gaby Evans on “Shrinking”).
Einbinder was also nominated in 2021, 2022 and 2024 in the supporting actress in a comedy category. Earlier this year, she won the Critics Choice Award for supporting actress in a comedy series. She’s additionally been nominated three times at the Golden Globes.
In 2021, Einbinder landed on Variety‘s 10 Comics to Watch list. And last year, she headlined the HBO Max standup special “Hannah Einbinder: Everything Must Go,” her first televised comedy special. She’s next set to star in the film “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma,” with Gillian Anderson, from Mubi, Plan B and director Jane Schoenbrun.
The 77th Emmy Awards is produced by Jesse Collins Entertainment. The kudocast aired Sunday evening on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
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