Regina King in a poster for HBO’s “Watchmen,” which won 11 awards at the 72nd Emmys. Photo courtesy of deadline.com

The Emmys in 2020 were headlined by an uptick in nominated Black actors and performers. The amount of nominations for Black performers, as well as winners, set a record, with 33 nominations, and 11 wins in the performance (acting, hosting, and voice) categories.

Performers who won included Regina King for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for her performance in the hit HBO limited series “Watchmen,” Yahya Abdul-Mateen II for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for her “Watchmen” performance and, for one of the most unexpected wins of the night, Zendaya for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her work in the television series “Euphoria.”

King and Zendaya both made history, with King tying the record for the most Emmys won by a Black performer and Zendaya becoming the youngest person to ever win Best Actress in a Drama Series.

Other winners included Eddie Murphy winning his first Emmy for hosting “Saturday Night Live” (SNL), Maya Rudolph for impersonating Kamala Harris on “SNL'' and RuPaul for “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”

Not only were there a record number of Black winners in performance categories, but according to NBC News, “[t]he telecast paid particular attention to issues of representation, inclusion and diversity in the entertainment industry — both on screen and behind the scenes.”

Zendaya holds her award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her work in HBO’s “Euphoria”. Photo courtesy of emmys.com

Speakers included Issa Rae from “Insecure,” who spoke about her struggles finding a voice in Hollywood as a woman of color, which she has spoken of before, and Anthony Anderson, who said this year’s show would be “the Blackest Emmys ever.” View his full speech here.

Tyler Perry accepted the Governor’s Award and in his speech talked about a metaphorical quilt made by his grandmother.

"In my grandmother's quilt there were no patches for Black people on television," Perry said. "But in my quilt, her grandson is being celebrated by the Television Academy." You can watch the full speech here.

However, while there were many wins in terms of diversity and representation, there is still evidence of more strides to be taken in terms of Hollywood and the Emmys.

In the last ten years, about 15% of Emmy nominations went to Black performers, just under 3% to Latinos, nearly 2% to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and barely 1% to those of Middle Eastern or Northern African descent, NBC News reported. The report also said that about 80% of acting nominees over the past ten years went to white actors.

Another noteworthy aspect of the ceremony was the fact that many shows that have long dominated the Emmys recently completed their final seasons, including “Game of Thrones” and “Veep.”

This year looked to be the opportunity for many shows to stake their own claim in the awards and many did just that, with “Schitt’s Creek,” “Succession” and “Watchmen” dominating their respective categories.

In particular, the Canadian show “Schitt’s Creek,” which found a passionate fan base when it started streaming on Netflix, made history, sweeping the entire comedy series genre.

Eugene and Dan Levy (father and son), as well as Catherine O’Hara and Annie Murphy combined to sweep the Comedy acting categories and gained additional wins for Outstanding Directing, Outstanding Writing and, the big award, Outstanding comedy series.

You could say that not many had a bigger night than everyone involved with “Schitt’s Creek.” Even more, the show is representative of the LGBTQ+ community — another win in terms of diversity for the Emmys.

Father Eugene Levy (left) and son Daniel Levy (right) accept the award for Outstanding Comedy Series for “Schitt’s Creek.” Photo Courtesy of emmys.cpm

However, HBO’s “Watchmen” topped “Schitt's Creek” in terms of Emmys won. In addition to the aforementioned King and Abdul-Mateen II, the show won 11 total awards out of 26 total nominations, the most of the night for one show, including Outstanding Limited Series.

“Watchmen” is a re-imagining of the long-popular graphic novel about vigilantes, using the 1921 Tulsa, Oklahoma massacre, known as the “Black Wall Street” of the time, as its origin story.

In regards to one of the biggest overall categories of the night, “Succession” dominated the drama awards. The HBO show about a media conglomerate villainous family won Best Writing, Best Directing, Best Series and Best Actor for Jeremy Strong’s performance.

In terms of the biggest failure of the night, that honor would probably have to go to Netflix. In this digital age of television and film, the streaming giant came out swinging with 160 total Emmy nominations, easily the most of any streaming service.

Perhaps the most anticipated aspect of the night was how the first major awards show held during the COVID-19 pandemic was going to handle the new circumstances. Even though the ratings were not good, with a 12% drop from last year and a 33% drop the year before that, according to Variety, reviews of the ceremony were overall quite positive.

Variety wrote, “Thanks to precision work by Kimmel, Hudlin, director Hamish Hamilton and a crew that more than earned its pay, the Emmys at last did what every awards show has tried to do for years but none has quite managed: innovate.”

TIME also had good things to say: “[D]espite the unprecedented challenge — or, perhaps more accurately, because of it — this year’s Emmys turned out to be one of the most enjoyable awards shows in recent memory.”

With no audience in attendance, a camera person coming to the respective nominees’ areas to film and trophies being handed out by people in hazmat suits, the fact that so much positivity has surrounded the show is remarkable.

With many awards shows looking to go forward in the near future, the Emmys will be a good building block. But, perhaps more importantly, the record amount of diversity in both nominees and winners will do the same thing for future shows.

However, Netflix walked away from the big night with just two major awards: Julia Garner for Outstanding Supporting Actress in “Ozark” and Best Director in the limited series category for “Unorthodox” filmmaker Maria Schrader. Netflix collected just 21 wins overall.

Perhaps the most anticipated aspect of the night was how the first major awards show held during the COVID-19 pandemic was going to handle the new circumstances. Even though the ratings were not good, with a 12% drop from last year and a 33% drop the year before that, according to Variety, reviews of the ceremony were overall quite positive.

Variety wrote, “Thanks to precision work by Kimmel, Hudlin, director Hamish Hamilton and a crew that more than earned its pay, the Emmys at last did what every awards show has tried to do for years but none has quite managed: innovate.”

TIME also had good things to say: “[D]espite the unprecedented challenge — or, perhaps more accurately, because of it — this year’s Emmys turned out to be one of the most enjoyable awards shows in recent memory.”

With no audience in attendance, a camera person coming to the respective nominees’ areas to film and trophies being handed out by people in hazmat suits, the fact that so much positivity has surrounded the show is remarkable.

With many awards shows looking to go forward in the near future, the Emmys will be a good building block. But, perhaps more importantly, the record amount of diversity in both nominees and winners will do the same thing for future shows.

Black performers set records at the Emmys