Niecy Nash-Betts Shuts Down The Emmys With Emotional Speech

Niecy Nash-Betts declared that shes a winner baby as she took the stage for an electrifying and moving speech at the 75th Emmy Awards on Monday.

Nash-Betts won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for her role as Glenda Cleveland in Netflix s Dahmer Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.

The win marked her first-ever Primetime Emmy win after earning five nominations at the award show over the course of her career.

On Monday, she held back tears as she thanked a handful of people following the win.

And you know who I want to thank? I want to thank me, Nash-Betts said amid thunderous applause and a show of smiles from the crowd.

For believing in me and doing what they said I could not do, and I want to say to myself in front of all you beautiful people, Go on girl with your bad self. You did that.

She ended her speech with a powerful message, saying: Finally, I accept this award on behalf of every Black and brown woman who has gone unheard yet over-policed. Like Glenda Cleveland, like Sandra Bland, like Breonna Taylor. As an artist, my job is to speak truth to power, and baby Imma do it till the day I die. Mama, I won.

Niecy Nash-Betts is finally an Emmy winner after 5 nominations and she gave one of the best speeches in #Emmys history!

\"I wanna thank me for believing in me!\" pic.twitter.com/uuvtZhlJ66

Jarett Wieselman (@JarettSays) January 16, 2024","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"Jarett Wieselman","author_url":"https://twitter.com/JarettSays","cache_age":86400,"description":"Niecy Nash-Betts is finally an Emmy winner after 5 nominations and she gave one of the best speeches in #Emmys history! \"I wanna thank me for believing in me!\" pic.twitter.com/uuvtZhlJ66 Jarett Wieselman (@JarettSays) January 16, 2024\n\n\n","options":{"_hide_media":{"label":"Hide photos, videos, and cards","value":false},"_maxwidth":{"label":"Adjust width","placeholder":"220-550, in px","value":""},"_theme":{"value":"","values":{"dark":"Use dark theme"}}},"provider_name":"Twitter","title":"Jarett Wieselman on Twitter / 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Niecy Nash-Betts is finally an Emmy winner after 5 nominations and she gave one of the best speeches in #Emmys history!

"I wanna thank me for believing in me!" pic.twitter.com/uuvtZhlJ66
Jarett Wieselman (@JarettSays) January 16, 2024

In remarks in the press room after the win, Nash-Betts said she was the only one who knows what it cost me.

Im the only one who knows how many nights I cried because I couldnt be seen for a certain type of role, she said. Im the one who knows what its like to go through a divorce on camera and you still have to pull up and show out.

And you still have to go home [because] you have children and a whole life. So, Im proud of myself. Im proud that I did something that people said I could not do because I believed in me. And sometimes people dont believe in themselves. I hope my speech was a delicious invitation for people to do just that, she continued. Believe in yourself and congratulate yourself. Sometimes youve got to encourage what? Yourself. And thats why its not called mama-esteem, them-esteem, us-esteem. Its called self-esteem because dont nobody got to believe it but you.

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Niecy Nash-Betts on thanking herself at the Emmys: Im the only one who knows how much it cost me. Im the only one who knows how many nights I cried because I couldnt be seen for a certain type of role. https://t.co/0BE4boLhVX pic.twitter.com/Km0g26FwNp

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Niecy Nash-Betts on thanking herself at the Emmys: Im the only one who knows how much it cost me. Im the only one who knows how many nights I cried because I couldnt be seen for a certain type of role. https://t.co/0BE4boLhVX pic.twitter.com/Km0g26FwNp
Variety (@Variety) January 16, 2024