Sunday night's (September 17) 69th annual Emmy Awards proved to be a ceremony worth watching as the Stephen Colbert-hosted show unraveled before American audiences. From the big wins for series like Big Little Lies and The Handmaid's Tale to the monumental history made by Donald Glover for his Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series title, the award show was full of moments that took Twitter by storm.
If you missed out on the star-studded ceremony, iHeartRadio has you covered with some of the biggest highlights from the Los Angeles-based affair. Take a look below!
Chance The Rapper Steals Emmys Opening From Host Stephen Colbert
Stephen Colbert hosted the 2017 Emmy Awards and by the end of the late night talk show host's opening, everyone was talking about it... but, not about him. Colbert started the 69th Emmys with a fun intro that first included Anthony Anderson from Black-ish, and then himself dancing and singing to warm the crowd up. But, one surprise guest that Colbert pulled out of his tuxedo sleeve was Chance The Rapper! The Chicago MC rapped a guest verse in Colbert's intro.
During the verse, Chance touched on how much he loves watching good shows on television, while connecting them with real life occurrences such as the acquittal of bad cops, protests and more. We call that #WokeRap.
Viewers of the awards show even noticed when he gave a shoutout to Orange Is The New Black actress Laverne Cox. "If Hawkeye can be a soldier, why not Laverne Cox?" the Coloring Book rapper said.
Donald Glover Makes History With His 'Outstanding Directing' Emmy Win
Childish Gambino, or shall we say Donald Glover, took to the Microsoft Theater stage in Los Angeles during the ceremony for his win in the Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series category for his episode of Atlanta, becoming the first African American director to win in the category. If the win wasn't enough, the 33-year-old titan's acceptance speech had folks sharing tons of props for the multi-talent. "This really belongs to Hiro Murai. He taught me everything about directing. He had the eye for the show first and we sat down and he's just amazing," Donald said at the podium. "I really wanna give this to Hiro and just say I love you and thank you for being my best friend and making this with me."
Sean Spicer Makes Surprise Appearance
Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer rolled his way into show during the opening monologue to take a jab at the controversy over the crowd size at Donald Trump's inauguration.
Spicer walked out rolling a podium so he could address the see how large the crowd was. As he got on tage he looked out and was impressed with what he saw telling host Stephen Colbert, "this will be the largest audience to witness an Emmys, period. Both in person and around the world."
Colbert took a jab at Trump, saying the news from Spicer "really soothes my fragile ego," adding he "could really understand why you want one of these guys around." He then dismissed Spicer saying "Melissa McCarthy, everybody."
Relive That Kiss Between Nicole Kidman and Alexander Skarsgård
Nicole Kidman and Alexander Skarsgård shared a moment at the 2017 Emmys. The hunk won Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for his role in Big Little Lies and while walking to accept his award, got a smooch on the lips from Nicole, who played his wife in the HBO series. Skarsgård — who was presented the award from 9 to 5 stars Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton — gave a sweet shoutout to the “incredible women” in his life, as well as “the ladies” of the HBO miniseries.
RuPaul Plays A Living Breathing Emmy
Not only did Sunday give RuPaul a chance to celebrate his Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program win, but the longtime television persona also appeared in a short segment during the broadcast as he played the winged angel that appears as the statue in the ceremony trophy. During the interview with Colbert, RuPaul said he was happy to be finally sitting down after 69 years and went on to talk about what each of the industry's other statues were like in real life. Wink Wink. "He’s cute," RuPaul admitted of the Oscar. "We actually dated for a little while. I had to break it off, I just couldn’t date a man who’s naked all the time holding a sword."
The Internet Has an Opinion on Emmy Announcer Jermaine Fowler
The internet went off on the decision to have Jermaine Fowler serve as the voiceover at the ceremony. People slammed the Superior Donuts actor, tweeting that he was distracting and acting like he was announcing at the MTV VMAs.
CBS' Jack Sussman previously explained that they wanted to switch things up this year. “What most awards show do is have the announcer locked in a closet reading from a script on cue,” Sussman said. “What we will do is have Jermaine be an active part of the show. He will be connected with what’s happened on the telecast and what happens next. What we want to do is get a peek behind the curtain in a fun, engaging way.”
Lena Waithe Makes Emmy History With Her 'Writing For A Comedy Series' Win
Let's all give a huge round of applause to Lena Waithe, the talent who just made Emmy history as the very first Black woman to win for Outstanding Writing For A Comedy Series. The star won this honor for co-writing the “Thanksgiving” episode of Master of None along with the hit show's star and creator, Aziz Ansari. When a visibly shocked Waithe took the stage to thank supporters for the award, she didn't forget to shoutout the LGBTQ community, and her humble beginnings as a black kid from the south side of Chicago.
“I see each and every one of you. The things that make us different, those are our super powers," Waithe said in her speech. "Every day when you walk out the door and put on your imaginary cape and go out there and conquer the world because the world would not be as beautiful as it is if we weren't in it."
She continued: "And for everybody out there that showed so much love, thank you for embracing us, a little Indian boy from South Carolina and black girl in the South Side of Chicago. We appreciate it more than you could ever know."
Until next year, folks!
Photo: Getty Images