September 13, 2022
RuPaul Loses to Lizzo as 'Drag Race' Streak Ends at the Emmys
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 2 MIN.
RuPaul's four-year winning streak at the Emmys for "Best Competition Series" came to an end at this year's edition of the awards, with Lizzo taking the trophy for "Lizzo's Watch Out For The Big Grrrls," Variety reported.
In an Emmys where new shows like "Squid Game" and previous winners like "Ted Lasso" and "Euphoria" were represented, Lizzo's toppling of "RuPaul's Drag Race" after four consecutive wins was a standout moment and another victory for streaming services: "Lizzo's Watch Out For The Big Grrrls" streams on Amazon Prime Video.
"Accepting the award in tears, Lizzo cried out for the Big Grrrls to join her onstage," Variety recounted.
"I need my big girls to come to the stage right now. Right now," Entertainment Weekly quoted the 34-year-old singer-songwriter as saying.
"I'm very emotional and the trophy is nice but my emotion is for these people who are on this stage with me. The stories that they shared, they're not that unique, they just don't get the platform telling stories. Let's just tell more stories," Lizzo said.
"When I was a little girl, all I wanted to see was me in the media," Variety quoted Lizzo as saying in her acceptance speech. "Someone fat like me. Black like me. Beautiful like me. If I could go back and tell little Lizzo something, I would be like, 'You're going to see that person, but bitch, it's going to have to be you.'"
EW recalled comments Lizzo had made for the publication's "Awardist" podcast, in which the recording artist said that her show was not just "a dream for me," but also a chance to "to make these girls' dreams come true of not just dancing, but being stars."
"Being television stars and having a platform to kind of take their lives to the next level and have opportunities that weren't going to necessarily be given to them otherwise," Lizzo added.
"Though 'RuPaul's Drag Race' lost the Emmy in the Competition category, its namesake host still prevailed in his individual category at last weekend's Creative Arts Emmys, where he extended his record as the most-decorated Black artist in Emmys history."
RuPaul won Outstanding Host "for the seventh consecutive time at the 2022 Creative Arts Emmys," EW had previously reported.
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
