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Sheryl Lee Ralph’s Emmy Speech For The Ages!

If anyone who watched the Emmy awards were in an open-eyed coma from the boredom of it all or were still in a frozen state of WTF from the Emmy’s bizarre and awkward bootleg Debbie Allen of an opening dance number, they were woken up as soon as THEE Sheryl Lee Ralph opened her mouth while accepting her first Emmy ever. Sheryl Lee Ralph won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her performance in Abbott Elementary, and her acceptance speech took us on an epic journey from the THI-TURR to church to a Ted Talk and beyond. And I was strapped in and eating up every entire second of it. By the end, the audience was standing while clapping and thinking to themselves, “What’s that breeze hitting my head? Oh, that’s because there’s no roof since Sheryl Lee Fucking Ralph brought the house down!”

Sheryl Lee Ralph has been in the business that is show for 45 years, and she’s been on Broadway (originating the role of Deena Jones in Dreamgirls, which got her a Tony nomination), in movies (Sister Act 2 and The Flintstones), and many TV shows (It’s A Living, Designing Women, Moesha, and Ray Donovan). This year, she was nominated for her first Emmy for playing veteran teacher Barbara Howard in Abbott Elementary. After presenters Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers announced that Sheryl Lee Ralph is now Emmy-winning Sheryl Lee Ralph, she helped out the cleaning crew by leaving zero crumbs on that stage. Sheryl Lee Ralph’s acceptance speech was so instantly legendary that it even had an opening number! She took a moment to take it all in before powerfully belting out a piece of the 1993 song Endangered Species by jazz singer Dianne Reeves. She sang:

“I am an endangered species / But I sing no victim’s song / I am a woman, I am an artist / And I know where my voice belongs.”

That was more than enough to summon everyone’s asses right out of their seats, but Sheryl continued to deliver and thanked all those who helped her to get to that moment:

“To anyone who has ever, ever had a dream and thought your dream wasn’t, wouldn’t, couldn’t come true, I am here to tell you that this is what believing looks like. This is what striving looks like and don’t you ever, EVER, give up on you. Because if you get a Quinta Brunson in your corner, if you get a husband like mine in your corner, if you get children like mine in your corner, and if you’ve got friends like everybody who voted for me, cheered for me, loved me. Thank you! Thank you! Thank youuuu!”

Sheryl Lee Ralph’s win was early on in the ceremony, so when a list of names of people she’d like to thank appeared at the bottom of the screen as she sang, I thought that she had given the list to producers to broadcast in case she won. That Sheryl Lee Ralph is a mastermind who thought of it all! But no, they did that for every winner.

Here’s Sheryl Lee Ralph’s glorious Emmy speech in all its glory:

Afterward, Sheryl Lee Ralph explained to backstage reporters why she chose to sing a piece of Endangered Species, via The Hollywood Reporter:

“I’ve been singing that song for years because I think of myself as an artist, as a woman, especially as a woman of color — I’m an endangered species. I don’t sing any victim song. I’m a woman. I’m an artist, and I know where my voice belongs. And there’s so many young actors, artists, even kids that think they know what they’re going to do in life: Find your voice and put it where it belongs.”

Sheryl Lee Ralph is only the second Black woman to win the Emmy for Oustanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy series. The first winner was THEE Jackée Harry who won in 1987 for playing Sandra in 227. Jackée welcomed Sheryl Lee Ralph to the club and also dropped a fun fact (that Sheryl Lee Ralph was the network’s first choice for Sandra):

Winning my Emmy was a career highlight, but it was also a lonely experience.

For 35 years I’ve been the only black woman to win Outstanding Supporting Actresses in a Comedy Series.

But that all changes tonight… and it’s come full circle! #Emmys pic.twitter.com/TiyCwASVTI

— Jackée Harry (@JackeeHarry) September 13, 2022

.@thesherylralph’s had a remarkable career AND she’s one of the nicest people in Hollywood. Barbara Howard on #AbbottElementary is another fabulous character we’ve been fortunate to watch her breathe life into. 🙏🏾

Congrats, Sheryl & welcome to the club! #Emmys 🏆 #BlackGirlsRock pic.twitter.com/Tryb3DGig2

— Jackée Harry (@JackeeHarry) September 13, 2022

There was one thing that was missing from Sheryl Lee Ralph’s amazing speech and that was someone taking to the stage to hand her another Emmy, a Tony, a Grammy, AND an Oscar for that speech. Yes, that speech was so good it broke a little thing called “award show eligibility rules“!

Pic: YouTube