69th Primetime Emmy Awards

{{Short description|Television awards covering 2016 and 2017}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2023}}

{{Infobox award

| name = 69th Primetime Emmy Awards

| image = The 69th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards Poster.jpg

| caption = Promotional poster

| date = {{unbulleted list

| September 17, 2017 (Ceremony)

| September 9–10, 2017
(Creative Arts Awards)

}}

| location = Microsoft Theater,
Los Angeles, California{{cite press release|title=Stephen Colbert to Host the 69th Emmy Awards|url=http://www.emmys.com/news/awards-news/stephen-colbert-host-69th-emmy-awards|publisher=Academy of Television Arts & Sciences|access-date=January 23, 2017|date=January 23, 2017}}

| presenter = Academy of Television Arts and Sciences

| most_awards = {{unbulleted list

| Major:

• Big Little Lies
• The Handmaid's Tale (5)

| All: Saturday Night Live (9)}}

| most_nominations = {{Plainlist|

• Feud: Bette and Joan
• Veep (10)}}

| award1_type = Outstanding Comedy Series

| award1_winner = Veep

| award2_type = Outstanding Drama Series

| award2_winner = The Handmaid's Tale

| award3_type = Outstanding Limited Series

| award3_winner = Big Little Lies

| host = Stephen Colbert

| network = CBS

| producer = Ricky Kirshner
Glenn Weiss

| director = Glenn Weiss

| previous = 68th

| next = 70th

| main = {{nowrap|Primetime Emmy Awards}}

}}

The 69th Primetime Emmy Awards honored the best in US prime time television programming from June 1, 2016, until May 31, 2017, as chosen by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The ceremony was held on Sunday, September 17, 2017, at the Microsoft Theater in Downtown Los Angeles, California, and was broadcast in the U.S. by CBS. The ceremony was hosted by Stephen Colbert.{{cite news|last1=Koblin|first1=John|title=Stephen Colbert Will Host the Emmy Awards|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/23/arts/television/stephen-colbert-will-host-the-emmy-awards.html|access-date=January 23, 2017|work=The New York Times|date=January 23, 2017}} The 69th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards were held on September 9 and 10, and was broadcast by FXX on September 16.{{cite web|url=https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/7/13/15964344/emmy-nominees-2017-livestream-list-emmys|title=Emmy nominations 2017: the full list|date=July 13, 2017|work=Vox|access-date=July 13, 2017}}

The nominations were announced by Anna Chlumsky and Shemar Moore on July 13, 2017.{{cite press release|title=Anna Chlumsky and Shemar Moore to Announce Emmy Nominations|url=http://www.emmys.com/news/awards-news/chlumsky-moore-announce-170629|access-date=June 29, 2017|publisher=Academy of Television Arts & Sciences|date=June 29, 2017}} Channelwise, the freshman HBO science fiction western drama Westworld and NBC sketch comedy Saturday Night Live were the most nominated programs, each with 22 nominations.{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2017/tv/news/westworld-emmys-nominations-hbo-1202494632/|title=Westworld: Inside HBO Drama's Long Journey to 22 Emmy Nominations|last=Otterson|first=Joe|date=July 13, 2017|work=Variety|access-date=July 13, 2017}}{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2017/tv/news/2017-emmy-nominees-list-nominations-1202494465/|title=Emmys 2017: Full List of Nominations|author=|date=July 13, 2017|work=Variety|access-date=July 13, 2017}}

Host Stephen Colbert opened the ceremony with a song-and-dance number and a monologue that lampooned the state of the world under President Donald Trump, which The New York Times said set an anti-Trump tone for the rest of the event.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/18/arts/television/emmys-best-worst-highlights.html|title=The Best and Worst Moments of the 2017 Emmys|date=September 18, 2017|access-date=September 18, 2017|work=The New York Times}} Many of the further presentations and host commentary continued jokes aimed towards Trump, along with winners' speeches criticizing the President and standing behind diversity in the television field.{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2017/tv/news/emmys-2017-recap-stephen-colbert-1202561890/|title=Emmys: Diversity Reigns Over Trump as Big Little Lies, Handmaid's Tale, SNL Dominate|first=Daniel|last=Holloway|date=September 18, 2017|access-date=September 18, 2017|work=Variety}} Sean Spicer, Trump's former White House Press Secretary, made an appearance in which he parodied himself. RuPaul played a living Emmy statue in a comedic interview segment with Colbert during the ceremony.{{cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/rupaul-plays-a-living-emmy-statue-colbert-sketch-1040341|title=RuPaul Plays a Living Emmy Statue In Colbert Sketch|work=The Hollywood Reporter|first=Patrick|last=Shanley|date=September 17, 2017|access-date=September 19, 2017}}{{cite magazine|url=https://ew.com/tv/2017/09/17/stephen-colbert-rupaul-emmys-interview/|title=RuPaul Plays 'Emmy' in Exclusive Interview with Stephen Colbert|date=September 18, 2017|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|first=Derek|last=Lawrence|access-date=September 19, 2017}}

Original programming streaming television services—Netflix and Hulu—upended traditional broadcast television series in several categories. Netflix series earned a total of 20 Primetime Emmy Awards, following only HBO with 29 and leading NBC with 15.{{cite web|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/18/hulus-big-emmy-night-marks-a-streaming-milestone.html|title=Hulu's big Emmy night marks a streaming milestone|date=September 18, 2017|access-date=September 18, 2017|website=CNBC|agency=Reuters}}{{cite web|url=https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/18/16329304/the-handmaids-tale-hulu-emmy-wins-netflix-amazon|title=Hulu's Emmy wins mark its emergence as a major entertainment player|first=Byran|last= Bishop|date=September 18, 2017|access-date=September 19, 2017|work=The Verge}} Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale became the first web series to win Outstanding Drama Series.{{cite web|last1=Stanhope|first1=Kate|title=The Handmaid's Tale Wins Big for Hulu at Emmys|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/emmys-handmaids-tale-gives-hulu-first-emmy-win-1038932|work=The Hollywood Reporter|date=September 17, 2017 |access-date=September 18, 2017}} Additionally, streaming television also won their first awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (Elisabeth Moss for The Handmaid's Tale – Hulu), Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series (Alexis Bledel for The Handmaid's Tale – Hulu),{{efn|Awarded the weekend before at the Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards}} Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (Bruce Miller for The Handmaid's Tale – Hulu), Outstanding Television Movie (Black Mirror: San Junipero – Netflix) and Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie or Dramatic Special (Charlie Brooker for Black Mirror: San Junipero – Netflix).

In addition, the night saw several other historic firsts: Donald Glover became the first African-American to win Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series for Atlanta.{{cite web|title=Donald Glover Is First Black Director To Win An Emmy In Comedy|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-glover-emmy_us_59bf1fb7e4b0edff971d1b1d|work=HuffPost|date=September 18, 2017 |access-date=September 18, 2017}} Riz Ahmed, with his win for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for The Night Of, became the first Asian to win that category as well as the first Asian man to win an acting award and first South Asian to win a lead acting award.{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2017/09/18/riz-ahmed-makes-history-first-muslim-man-win-acting-emmy/|title=Riz Ahmed makes history as the first Muslim man to win an acting Emmy|first=Alice|last=Vincent|date=September 18, 2017|work=The Daily Telegraph}}{{cite news|title=Riz Ahmed makes history as the first South Asian man to win an Emmy acting award|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/09/18/riz-ahmed-makes-history-as-the-first-south-asian-man-to-win-an-emmy-acting-award/|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=September 18, 2017}}

Moreover, Ahmed and Dave Chappelle also became the first Muslims to win acting awards, with Ahmed being the first Muslim to win a lead acting award and Chappelle the first to win for a guest role for Saturday Night Live.{{cite web|url=https://www.bustle.com/p/riz-ahmed-is-the-first-muslim-south-asian-emmy-winning-actor-ever-2369570|title=Riz Ahmed Is The First Muslim & South-Asian Emmy-Winning Actor Ever|work=Bustle|date=September 18, 2017|access-date=September 20, 2017}} With Aziz Ansari and Lena Waithe winning Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for Master of None, Waithe became the first African-American woman to win that award.{{cite web|title=Lena Waithe Makes Emmy History as First Black Woman to Win for Comedy Writing|url=https://variety.com/2017/tv/news/lena-waithe-wins-emmy-black-woman-comedy-writing-1202562040/|work=Variety|date=September 18, 2017 |access-date=September 18, 2017}} Finally, Julia Louis-Dreyfus won her record sixth consecutive award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for the same category for the same role in a single series as Selina Meyer on Veep; she is now tied with Cloris Leachman for the most wins as a performer.{{cite web|title=Julia Louis-Dreyfus Makes Emmy History With Sixth Veep Lead Actress Win|url=https://deadline.com/2017/09/julia-louis-dreyfus-wins-emmy-best-actress-comedy-series-veep-record-1202171885/|website=Deadline Hollywood|date=September 18, 2017 |access-date=September 18, 2017}}

The awards ceremony drew 11.4 million viewers, on par with the previous awards ceremony, but one of the lowest viewerships for the Primetime Emmy Awards overall. Analysts attribute this to younger audiences preferring to watch clips or summaries than the entire event{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-emmy-ratings-20170918-story.html|title=Emmy Awards draw 11.4 million viewers to CBS telecast, even with last year|first=Stephen|last=Battaglio|date=September 18, 2017|access-date=September 18, 2017|work=Los Angeles Times}} and to Florida markets being affected by Hurricane Irma.{{cite web|last=Gunderman|first=Dan|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/emmys-worst-all-time-score-hurricane-affected-market-article-1.3504317|title=Emmys get worst all-time ratings in hurricane-affected markets|work=Daily News|date=September 18, 2017|access-date=September 20, 2017}}