This Is Us star Sterling K. Brown was named Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series at the 2017 Emmys on Sunday night, a great honor.
The actor – who won Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie in 2016 for The People vs. O.J. Simpson – had a lot to say.
Too much to say, if you ask producers …
Brown, upon receiving the award, paid tribute to his fellow nominees during his acceptance speech, saying he was a fan of all of them:
“Before anything like this happened for your boy, I was a fan first, last and always a fan. So to my fellow nominees, I’m a fan. I love y’all.”
The 41-year-old was humbled by the list of people who won this same honor – some of the most iconic actors and TV characters ever.
“This joint right here, like Walter White held this joint here. Dick Whitman held this joint. I may have lost some of y’all but you know, Google it.”
“And 19 years ago Detective Frank Pembleton held this joint, as impeccably played by Andre Braugher,” he said of the Homicide star.
“I want to thank my cast,” he went on, pivoting back to the present, “Milo [Ventimiglia], Mandy [Moore], Justin [Hartley], Chrissy [Metz].”
“You are the best white TV family that a brother has ever had. Better than Mr. Drummond, better than the white folks that raised Webster.”
Unfortunately he wasn’t finished by the time the music came on and his microphone was eventually turned down. Double ouch.
This was met with boos by the audience, and justifiably so, but afterwards, in the press room, Brown got to finish his speech.
The first question he received there was from a reporter who asked if he wanted to, and Brown thankfully obliged (see above):
“I wanted to thank our writers. A show doesn’t get seven acting nominations without some impeccable, beautiful, thoughtful writing.”
“You guys are our life’s blood, so I want to thank you so much. To our producers and directors, in particular, John Requa, Glenn Ficarra.”
“And the crazy cool Ken Olin. I thank you for your guidance and friendship. And I wanted to thank Dan Fogelman.”
“He is the Hebrew hammer with which our house was built. He makes me laugh and cry in equal parts and keeps me coming back for more.”
“And in his own little small special way. He’s not trying to make America great again, he’s trying to make it the best that it’s ever been.”
“I love him for taking me on this journey. And to my wife, I can’t believe they cut me off before I got to thank my wife, Ryan Michelle Bathe.”
“You’re everything. You make my life worth living. You gave me two of the most beautiful things that God has ever put on this planet.”
“My sons Andrew Jason Sterling Brown and Amaré Michael Ryan Christian Brown. Your daddy loves you with the strength of a thousand suns.”
“I’ll see you Monday after work.”
The actor faced stiff competition in the category as he was up against both fan favorites and screen legends, which wasn’t lost on him.
Brown’s costar Milo Ventimiglia also earned a nod, while Kevin Spacey (House of Cards) and Anthony Hopkins (Westworld) were nominated.
The Americans’ Matthew Rhys, Better Call Saul‘s Bob Odenkirk and Ray Donovan‘s Liev Schreiber rounded out the impressive category.
Quite a win!