Pop Culture Fix: Zendaya. That’s It. That’s the Headline.

Hello, friends! Here’s your Monday Pop Culture Fix!


+ Last night’s Emmys set the record for most wins by Black actors! Regina King is now tied with Alfre Woodard for the most Emmy wins by a Black actress; and Zendaya is the youngest actor to win a trophy for Outstanding Lead Actress, and only the second Black woman, after Viola Davis to win.

+ At the end of her acceptance speech, she thanked the perseverance of Black Lives Matter protesters: “I know this feels like a really weird time to be celebrating, but I just want to say that there is hope in the young people out there. I know that our TV show doesn’t always feel like a great example of that but there is hope in the young people. And I just want to say to all my peers out there doing the work in the streets, I see you, I admire you, I thank you.”

+ From Tonja Renée Stidhum at The Root: Zendaya’s historic lead actress win is euphoric.

+ From Caroline Framke at Variety: Zendaya’s Emmy win rewards one of TV’s smartest, trickiest performances.

+ FASHION!

+ Is this a good time to revisit Viola Davis 2015 win and speech in the 2015 Emmys? Sure is! (Every time is a good time for that!)

+ Maya Rudolph’s first Emmy win is long overdue and richly deserved.

+ Uzo!

+ And let’s bring it home with Regina King.

+ An ode to Kate McKinnon’s RBG impressions.

+ How Janelle Monáe and Antebellum used horror to highlight racial injustice.

+ Amazon will stream Stacey Abrams’ All In: The Fight for Democracy for free on voter registration day.

+ Sarah Paulson and Stephen Colbert get goofy talking Ratched, getting looped with Cate Blanchett.

+ Ellen was back today for season 18, and she talked about all the workplace harassment allegations in her opening monologue.

+ Chloë Grace Moretz goes to war and a revenge thriller goes to the extreme at Midnight Madness.

+ Even though ABC had already renewed Stumptown for season two, it has now cancelled it????

+ What is a TV movie in 2020, anyway?

+ Euphoria won’t be back until 2021, but HBO has confirmed a special episode.

+ Lady Gaga dropped a new short film for her single, “911.”

+ Monica Rambeau is in the WandaVision trailer!!! 

+ Harley Quinn has been renewed for a third season on HBO Max.

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Heather Hogan

Heather Hogan is an Autostraddle senior editor who lives in New York City with her wife, Stacy, and their cackle of rescued pets. She's a member of the Television Critics Association, GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, and a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer critic. You can also find her on Twitter and Instagram.

Heather has written 1719 articles for us.

2 Comments

  1. re: Stumptown: “…after the series changed creative direction with a showrunner change at the end of Season 1.”

    welp, they were gonna monkey with it anyway so maybe this is not the blow it seems. i still hope it gets picked up somewhere and would check it if it did, but it already wasn’t going to be the same. i mean, if they fixed the representation issues, that would make it better, but usually ‘new creative direction’ means make it more male gazey/relatable, so.

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