Succession’s Jesse Armstrong ‘Un-Thanks Crummy Trump and Boris Johnson’ In Emmy Acceptance Speech

The producer and writer criticised the establishment.

Jesse Armstrong

by grazia |
Published on

The Emmys was a pretty impressive spectacle considering that most of Hollywood had to stay away. For the most part, it was kept entertaining thanks to the solid pair of hands from host Jimmy Kimmel, some impressive, real-life cameos from stars like Jennifer Aniston and Zendaya, a deserved sweep from believed comedy Schitt's Creek, and we do love a good speech. In our opinion, the best one of the night came from Jesse Armstrong, who created our favourite drama Succession and used his platform to criticise both Donald Trump and Boris Johnson.

The British producer and writer took the best drama prize for the show, which follows the schemes of a media mogul and the machinations of his ambitious family. He started off with a classic intro - although it was interrupted by a phonemail in his hotel room, which he improvised was from 'room service' - 'Thank you very much indeed', he began. 'This is such a very nice moment and it's very sad not to be with the cast and some of the crew to share it with you all tonight, but this is a wonderful achievement for the whole group.'

Then, he got serious. 'But for being robbed of the opportunity to spend this time with our peers and with the cast and crew, I think I'd maybe like to do some un-thank yous. Un-thank you to the virus for keeping us all apart this year. Un-thank you to Trump for his crummy and uncoordinated response, un-thank you to Boris Johnson and his government for doing the same in my country, un-thank you to all the nationalist and quasi-nationalist governments in the world that are exactly the opposite of what we need right now and un-thank you to the media moguls who do so much to keep them in power. So un-thank you.'

Jesse was speaking live from a hotel room in the UK and said he would be celebrating with food. 'Hopefully by going to breakfast because it’s 4 a.m. [in Britain.] and in case something positive happened I didn’t drink anything so I’m hoping for a champagne breakfast with this lovely group. It’s the kind of celebration an old person would have.'

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