All of the attention should be on Quinta Brunson‘s first Emmy win for “Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series. Instead, the focus is on Jimmy Kimmel during the actress’ acceptance speech.
Brunson won the award Monday night (September 12) at the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards, making this her first Emmy win for Abbott Elementary. Walking on stage, the actress had to step over the late-night host as he played dead to make her speech, telling Jimmy, “Jimmy wake up, I won.”
Shortly before Quinta’s speech, Jimmy did a skit with Will Arnett dragging him on and off stage, pretending that Kimmel had gotten too drunk to present after losing to Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. While the bit got laughs in the audience, viewers at home weren’t ok with Jimmy stealing Quinta’s shine, expressing their thoughts on Twitter.
Quinta Brunson deserved better than giving her acceptance over Jimmy Kimmel’s “dead” body. #Emmys #AbbottElementary pic.twitter.com/ofP5mkXpvy
— Garin Pirnia (@gpirnia) September 13, 2022
Quinta told the press room after accepting the award she was really happy the host was up there, stating,
“I know him. Honestly, it was kind of… Jimmy gave me my first big late-night spot and was one of the first people to see Abbott, and one of the first people… He Instagram messaged me that he saw this comedy and thought it was one of the greatest comedies of all time, and he was so excited it was going to be on ABC…So, I think, in that moment, I was just really happy that it was Jimmy up there. I kind of consider him one of the comedy godfathers,” she continued. “I’m a huge fan of Will Arnett, so I was wrapped up in the moment.”
The actress will be a guest on Jimmy’s show this week, jokingly telling the press that she may punch him in the face.
According to People, Jimmy gushed over Brunson at a Walt Disney Company afterparty Monday night, saying she’s “unbelievably talented.” Abbot Elementary returns with a new season on September 21.
