Niecy Nash-Betts thanks herself in Emmys acceptance speech

Niecy Nash-Betts is thanking a lot of people for her Emmy win — including herself.

The Reno 911 actress won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for her performance as Glenda Cleveland in Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. “I’m a winner, baby!” she said at the beginning of her acceptance speech. “Thank you to the most high for this divine moment. Thank you Ryan Murphy for seeing me. Evan Peters, I love you. Netflix, every single person who voted for me — thank you. And my better half who picked me up when I was gutted from this work, thank you.”

Her most memorable thank-you came next. “And you know who I wanna thank?” she asked. “I wanna thank me. For believing in me, and doing what they said I could not do. And I wanna say to myself in front of all you beautiful people: go on, girl, with your bad self. You did that.”

Nash-Betts also took a moment to remember victims of police violence. “And finally, I accept this award on behalf of every Black and brown woman who has gone unheard yet over-policed,” she said. “Like Glenda Cleveland. Like Sandra Bland. Like Breonna Taylor. As an artist, my job is to speak truth to power, and baby, Imma do it til the day I die. Mama, I won!”

In the press room after receiving her trophy, Nash-Betts elaborated on why she thanked herself. "I'm the only one who knows what it cost me," she said. "I'm the only one who knows how many nights I cried because I couldn't be seen for a certain type of role. I'm the one who knows what it's like to go through a divorce on camera and you still have to pull up and show out. And you still have to go home [because] you have children and a whole life. So, I'm proud of myself. I'm proud that I did something that people said I could not do because I believed in me. Sometimes people don't believe in themselves. I hope my speech was a delicious invitation for people to do just that: believe in yourself and congratulate yourself. Sometimes you've got to take care of what? Yourself. It's not called 'them esteem,' 'us esteem.' It's called 'self-esteem' — because don't nobody got to believe it but you."

Nash-Betts had previously won a Daytime Emmy for her Outstanding Special Class Program for Clean House in 2010. She was nominated twice for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for Getting On in 2014 and 2016, as well as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for When They See Us in 2019.

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