Emmys 2022: five biggest moments as Zendaya and Squid Game’s Lee Jung-jae make history

The 2022 Emmys welcomed a slew of stars to Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theater on Monday night to celebrate the best in television.

With SNL star Kenan Thompson overseeing proceedings, the three-hour show produced plenty of memorable moments from the sublime to the surreal.

Here’s a look at the biggest takeaways from the night.

Squid Game stars make history alongside Zendaya

Squid Game broke records when it was released last September, becoming Netflix’s most-watched show of all time, and the South Korean dystopian drama broke another few records at last night’s Emmys.

Leading the win was star Lee Jung-jae, who became the first Asian actor to win an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his role as Seong Gi-hun in the brutal survival series.

Its director, Hwang Dong-hyuk, became the first Asian director to win in the Outstanding Drama Series category. He is also the first director to win for a non-English language series.

In addition to Lee and Hwang’s wins, Euphoria’s Zendaya became the youngest two-time winner of any Emmy in history as she picked up her award for playing the embattled Rue Bennett in the HBO drama.

The White Lotus wins big

The exploits at The White Lotus impressed Emmy voters in their droves as the social satire nabbed Outstanding Limited Series at Monday’s ceremony while creator Mike White also went home with gongs for Writing for a Limited Series and Directing for a Limited Series.

But it wasn’t just White’s night as Murray Bartlett and Jennifer Coolidge landed their first Emmys with supporting actor nods.

Unsurprisingly, Coolidge, who played wealthy Tanya McQuoid in the series, delivered one of the night’s most entertaining speeches, which ended with her bursting into dance when they tried to play her off to Ray Charles’ Hit The Road Jack.

Succession creator told ‘keep it royalist’

Emmys darling Succession was a big winner at the ceremony, picking up Outstanding Drama Series while creator Jesse Armstrong was awarded Writing for a Drama Series and a stunned Matthew Macfadyen nabbed the Supporting Actor in a Drama Series gong.

However, Armstrong may wish he had given more thought or time to his final acceptance speech. Surrounded by his cast on stage, Armstrong shared: “Big week for successions. New king in the UK, this for us. Evidently a little bit more voting for us than Prince Charles. I’m not saying we’re more legitimate in our position than he is, we’ll leave that to other people…”

However, his words were met with audible winces from the crowd, with actor and star of the show Brian Cox behind him urging him to: “Keep it royalist! Keep it royalist!”

Ted Lasso still comedy’s darling

Ted Lasso once again reigned supreme in comedy at the awards, picking up three wins on the night. The football sitcom nabbed Outstanding Comedy Series as well as acting wins for creator Jason Sudeikis and Brett Goldstein in a supporting role.

Staying true to his potty-mouthed character Roy Kent, Goldstein couldn’t help but drop a few expletives during his acceptance speech for his second consecutive Emmy and was hilariously censored.

Meanwhile, Sudeikis gave an impassioned speech about “good and evil, truth and lies” before telling his children, Otis and Daisy, he loved them. He is currently embroiled in a custody dispute with his ex-fiancée, Olivia Wilde.

He shared: “This show is about good and evil, this show is about the truth and lies, this show is about all that stuff. But it’s mostly about our response to those things, and your response to our show has been overwhelming.”

Sheryl Lee Ralph’s jaw-dropping speech

Sheryl Lee Ralph not only went home with the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, but also the title of “greatest Emmy speech of all time”.

Ralph won the award for her role as Barbara Howard, a veteran teacher on ABC’s Abbott Elementary. After arriving on stage, she belted out the lyrics to Endangered Species by US jazz singer Dianne Reeves to the audience’s amazement.

The star finished her acapella performance by saying: “This is what not giving up on yourself looks like” and thanked Abbott Elementary’s creator for being in her corner.

Understandably, the moment has gone viral online, with many declaring it the “greatest Emmy speech of all time” while others have called it moving and joked she should get a Tony for her acceptance speech.