71st Primetime Emmy Awards
Promotional poster
Date	September 22, 2019 (Ceremony) September 14–15, 2019 (Creative Arts Emmys)
Location	Microsoft Theater Los Angeles, California
Presented by	Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
Highlights
Most awards	Major: Fleabag (4) All: Game of Thrones (12)
Most nominations	Major: Game of Thrones (14) All: Game of Thrones (32)
Comedy Series	Fleabag
Drama Series	Game of Thrones
Limited Series	Chernobyl
Television/radio coverage
Network	Fox
Runtime	3 hours[1]
Viewership	6.9 million[2]
Produced by	Don Mischer Done and Dusted
Directed by	Hamish Hamilton
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The 71st Primetime Emmy Awards honored the best in American prime time television programming from June 1, 2018, until May 31, 2019, as chosen by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The ceremony was held on September 22, 2019, at the Microsoft Theater in Downtown Los Angeles, California, and was broadcast in the United States by Fox; it was preceded by the 71st Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards on September 14 and 15.^[3] The show did not have a host for the fourth time in its history, following the telecasts in 2003 (when the ceremony also aired on Fox), 1998 (on NBC), and 1975 (on CBS).^[4]

At the main ceremony, Fleabag led all programs with four wins and won the award for Outstanding Comedy Series. Game of Thrones won two awards, including its record-tying fourth win for Outstanding Drama Series. Chernobyl received the award for Outstanding Limited Series among its three wins. Other overall program awards went to Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, RuPaul's Drag Race, and Saturday Night Live, while The Act, Barry, Fosse/Verdon, Killing Eve, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Ozark, Pose, Succession, A Very English Scandal, and When They See Us each received at least one award. Including Creative Arts Emmys, Game of Thrones won 12 awards from 32 nominations – tying and breaking the single-season records, respectively – and helped HBO to 34 total wins, the most of any network. Watched by 6.9 million viewers in the United States, it was the lowest-rated Emmy broadcast in history, amounting to a 32% drop from the 2018 ceremony.^[2]

Winners and nominees

On April 9, 2019, it was announced that American Horror Story: Apocalypse, the eighth season of the horror anthology series American Horror Story, and the second season of The Sinner would be ineligible for the Limited Series categories unlike their previous seasons, and instead be moved to Drama due to "continuing story threads, characters and actors reprising those same character roles from previous seasons", therefore making the series less fit for an anthology format. For similar reasons, the second season of American Vandal was moved from Limited Series to Comedy. None of the shows were nominated.^[5][6][7]

The nominations were announced by D'Arcy Carden and Ken Jeong on July 16, 2019.^[8] Game of Thrones led the nominations with fourteen, including nine for acting and three for directing, followed by When They See Us with eleven and Barry with nine. Including its nominations at the Creative Arts Awards, Game of Thrones established a new record for most Emmy nominations received in the same year by any comedy or drama series with 32, while Pop TV received its first ever Primetime Emmy Award nominations with Schitt's Creek.^[9][10][11]

For the first time in the history of the Primetime Emmy Awards, two programs originating from the United Kingdom won two of the three major awards. Fleabag won the most major awards with four including Outstanding Comedy Series,^[12] followed by Chernobyl with three including Outstanding Limited Series.^[13]

Game of Thrones broke or tied several records with its wins: it became the first series in history to win Outstanding Drama Series for an eighth season and tied the record for most wins in the category with four. It also, including its Creative Arts wins, tied its own record for most Emmys won by a series in a single season, while cast member Peter Dinklage established a new record for most wins for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series with his fourth win for the series.^{[14][15][16][17][18]}

Billy Porter made history as the first openly gay man to win a lead actor award for his role on Pose.^[19]

Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface, and indicated with a double dagger (‡).^[20][21][a] For simplicity, producers who received nominations for program awards, as well as nominated writers for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series, have been omitted.

Bill Hader, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series winner

Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series winner

Billy Porter, Outstanding Lead Actor in Drama Series winner

Jodie Comer, Outstanding Lead Actress in Drama Series winner

Jharrel Jerome, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie winner

Michelle Williams, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie winner

Tony Shalhoub, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series winner

Alex Borstein, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series winner

Peter Dinklage, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series winner

Julia Garner, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series winner

Ben Whishaw, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie winner

Patricia Arquette, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie winner

Programs

Acting

Lead performances

Supporting performances

Directing

Writing

Nominations and wins by program

For the purposes of the lists below, "major" constitutes the categories listed above (program, acting, directing, and writing), while "total" includes the categories presented at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards.

Nominations and wins by network

Ceremony information

Thomas Lennon served as announcer for the "host-less" ceremony^[24]

The ceremony took place at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles with no host; comedian and actor Thomas Lennon served as an announcer for the ceremony, injecting with jokes and commentary as winners approached the stage to receive their Emmy.^[25] Televised by Fox, the ceremony began with a ruse where Homer Simpson appeared in an augmented-reality stage to host the event, before an animated piano dropped from the ceiling to land on The Simpsons' character. With the event now "host-less", Anthony Anderson rushed on stage in a skit where he insisted that "We’re going to go without a host tonight!"^[24] and pushed the first presenter Bryan Cranston to the stage to welcome the audience^[26] and introduce a montage of video clips. The ceremony continued in such fashion with only Lennon and montages and clips filling the time between presenters.^[24]

Several winners made notable "statement speeches" while accepting their awards. After winning the award for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Alex Borstein said:^[26]

My grandmother was in line to be shot into a pit... she turned to a guard and she said "What happens if I step out of line?" and he said "I don't have the heart to shoot you but somebody will". And she stepped out of line, and for that I am here and for that my children are here, so step out of line ladies, step out of line.

The winner for outstanding supporting actress in a limited series or movie, Patricia Arquette (The Act), in her acceptance speech said "I'm grateful at 50 to be getting the best parts of my life" and paid tribute to her sister, Alexis Arquette, who had died in 2016.^[26] Michelle Williams, after winning the award for outstanding lead actress in a limited series or movie for Fosse/Verdon, made references to the gender and racial wage gaps in the film industry, as well as the Time's Up movement:^[26][27]

The next time a woman, and especially a woman of color—because she stands to make 52 cents on the dollar compared to her white, male counterpart—tells you what she needs in order to do her job, listen to her, believe her, because one day she might stand in front of you and say thank you for allowing her to succeed because of her workplace environment and not in spite of it.

In the In Memoriam presentation, a photograph of conductor Leonard Slatkin, who is alive and working in Ireland, was mistakenly used and captioned as André Previn, who died in February 2019.^[28][29][30]

The telecast was watched by 6.9 million viewers in the United States, making it the lowest-rated Emmy broadcast in history, amounting to a 32% drop from the 2018 ceremony.^[2]

Presenters

The awards were presented by the following people:^[31][32]

Performers

In Memoriam

Halsey sang "Time After Time" by Cyndi Lauper and Rob Hyman. The following people were included in the In Memoriam presentation:^[33]