‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Overdue Emmy Win Keeps the Emmys Relevant

Only three shows had ever won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality Competition Series going into Monday night’s Emmy Awards, and all three of them — The Amazing Race, The Voice, and Top Chef — were nominated again this year. More than any other category, Reality Competition has deeply needed a new winner to keep it even remotely relevant in the TV landscape. Rewarding RuPaul’s Drag Race at long last was not only the most deserved outcome, it was also the one that the Emmys needed most desperately.

The Emmys have historically been incredibly fickle with their reality awards. The Drag Race win marked the first time that the a show has won for Reality Host (RuPaul won his third consecutive award for hosting) and Reality Competition Series.

Drag Race winning for its 10h season is LONG overdue, and it’s a little frustrating that the TV Academy couldn’t pull it together to award the show during its best seasons. But it’s also a welcome step forward. Despite past Emmy wins for Will & Grace and present wins for The Assassination of Gianni Versace, the Emmys have never been great about rewarding queer-themed television. RuPaul and Michelle Visage standing atop the Emmy stage, shouting out the hundreds of drag queens that Drag Race has “released into the wild,” was a huge moment for queer representation on TV and for the “diversity” that hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che so wanly joked about in the show’s monologue.