The Latest: Patricia Arquette urges support for trans people

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This article was published 22/09/2019 (2511 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LOS ANGELES – The Latest on the 71st annual Emmy Awards, being presented at the Microsoft Theater (all times local):

8:30 p.m.

Patricia Arquette is having a “wonderful time” in her acting career, but the Emmy winner says she is still personally struggling with the death of her transgender sister.

Arquette said backstage Sunday night that she has been grieving heavily since Alexis Arquette died at the age of 47 in 2016. She made a tearful tribute to Alexis during her acceptance speech after she won best supporting actress in a limited series for her role in the Hulu series “The Act.”

During her speech, the 51-year-old actress urged an end to the persecution of trans people.

Arquette said backstage that the continuous jokes about trans people are “unacceptable.” She also urged for more employment for trans people, who she says are in “deep poverty.”

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This story corrects the cause of death of Alexis Arquette.

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8 p.m.

“Game of Thrones” has won the best television drama series Emmy Award.

The HBO fantasy epic takes the award for the fourth time in its eighth and final season.

It was the just the second Emmy on what had been a mostly quiet night for “Game of Thrones.” Peter Dinklage won best supporting actor in a drama for the show earlier in the evening.

It beat “Better Call Saul,” ”Bodyguard,” ”Killing Eve,” ”Ozark,” ”Pose,” ”Succession” and “This is Us” for best drama.

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7:55 p.m.

“Fleabag” has won the Emmy for best comedy series.

The win Sunday for the Amazon Prime Video series added on to an already huge night for show creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

Waller-Bridge had already won earlier for her acting and writing on the show.

When she took the stage, she said “This is getting ridiculous.”

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7:45 p.m.

Jodie Comer has won the Emmy Award for best actress in a drama series for her role in “Killing Eve.”

Comer took home her first Emmy Award with the win, beating out nominees that included castmate Sandra Oh, who would have become the first woman of Asian descent to take the award.

Comer paid tribute to Oh in her speech.

Emilia Clarke, Robin Wright, Laura Linney, Viola Davis and Mandy Moore were also nominated.

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7:40 p.m.

Billy Porter became the first openly gay man to win an Emmy Award for best actor in a drama series for his role in “Pose.”

Porter won the Emmy on Sunday night as a first-time nominee for playing the character Pray Tell on the FX drama series.

The fashionable singer-actor wore a glittered suit and a towering asymmetrical hat on the stage as he accepted the award.

He beat out nominees that included Bob Odenkirk, Jason Bateman and Kit Harington.

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7:25 p.m.

The Emmy Award for best supporting actor in a drama has gone to Peter Dinklage for “Game of Thrones” for the fourth time.

Dinklage took the trophy at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday, giving the HBO fantasy series and night’s most heavily nominated show its first win of the evening.

Dinklage also won the award in 2011, 2015 and 2018 for playing the shunned member of a powerful family, Tyrion Lannister.

Dinklage praised the tolerance and diversity of the television community in his speech, saying “in no other place could I be standing on a stage like this.”

Minutes later, Julie Garner won her first Emmy for best supporting actress in a drama for her role in “Ozark” on Netflix.

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6:55 p.m.

Comedian Thomas Lennon provided voiceovers as winners made their way to the stage during the host-less Emmy Awards.

As the show went to commercial, he cheekily alluded to actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, who have been caught up in the college admissions scandal.

“The producers have asked me to give a special shout-out to any of our previous lead actress winners who are watching tonight from prison,” Lennon said. “Hopefully those two weeks are going to fly right by. Keep your chin up.”

Huffman has been sentenced to 14 days in prison, 250 hours of community service and a $30,000 fine. She was accused of paying $15,000 to rig her daughter’s SAT score.

On the Fox telecast, there was no orchestra to usher presenters and winners on and off stage. Instead, pop music was used.

— Beth Harris, @bethharrisap

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6:45 p.m.

“Chornobyl” has won the Emmy Award for best limited series.

The HBO series starring Jared Harris and Stellan Skarsgard took the award Sunday night at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

The series gives the harrowing back story of the 1986 nuclear disaster in the Soviet Union.

It’s the 10th time an HBO show has won the limited series Emmy. The last was “Big Little Lies” in 2017.

“Chornobyl” beat “Escape at Dannemora,” ”Fosse/Verdon,” ”When They See Us,” and “Sharp Objects.”

Creator Craig Mazin said in his acceptance speech that the series showed “the value of the truth and the danger of the lie.”

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6:35 p.m.

The Emmy Award for best actress in a limited series or movie goes to Michelle Williams for “Fosse/Verdon.”

Williams won the award Sunday night for playing Broadway star Gwen Verdon in a tumultuous marriage and professional collaboration with choreographer and director Bob Fosse.

Williams said in her acceptance that the FX series demonstrated that women need to be listened to and fairly compensated for their work.

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6:20 p.m.

The Emmy Award for best actor in a limited series or TV movie has gone to Jharrel Jerome for his role on “When They See Us.”

The 21-year-old Jerome got a rousing standing ovation at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles as he accepted the award for the Netflix series about five young black men accused of raping a white woman in New York’s Central Park in the 1980s.

Jerome paid tribute to those men to end his speech, saying “this is for the men known as the Exonerated Five.” He gave the names of the five, who are in the theatre and rose to their feet, and shouted out the name of the one he played: “Korey Wise!”

It was the first win of the night for the series written and directed by Ava Duvernay.

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6 p.m.

The Emmy Award for best supporting actress in a limited series goes to Patricia Arquette for “The Act.”

It’s the second career Emmy for Arquette, who plays a mother who deliberately keeps her daughter sick on the Hulu series.

Arquette paid tearful tribute to her late trans sister Alexis Arquette during her acceptance speech at the Microsoft Theater on Sunday night, urging an end to persecution of trans people, and asking those in the theatre to give them work.

Patricia Arquette won best lead actress in a drama Emmy for her role on “Medium” in 2005.

Minutes later, Ben Whishaw won best supporting actor in a limited series for “A Very English Scandal.” The win gave Amazon Prime Video its sixth Emmy of the night.

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5:45 p.m.

The Emmy Award for best actress in a comedy series goes to Phoebe Waller-Bridge for “Fleabag,” her second Emmy of the night.

With the win for her Amazon show, Waller-Bridge scored a major upset against Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who would have become the most decorated performer in Emmy history with another win for “Veep.” Louis-Dreyfus has won eight acting Emmys.

“No, oh my God, no!” Waller-Bridge shouted when she took the stage.

She won earlier in the evening for her writing on “Fleabag.”

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5:35 p.m.

The Emmy Award for best actor in a comedy series has gone to Bill Hader of “Barry” for the second straight year.

Hader took home the Emmy for the HBO comedy about a hit man-turned-actor at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday night.

It’s the third Emmy overall for the 41-year-old former “Saturday Night Live” star.

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5:20 p.m.

The Emmy Award for best supporting actress in a comedy series goes to Alex Borstein for “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” for the second straight year.

Borstein took home the trophy Sunday night at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

Amazon’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel won the first two Emmys of the night. Tony Shalhoub earlier won best supporting actor in a comedy for his role on the show.

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5:10 p.m.

The first Emmy Award of the night has gone to Tony Shalhoub for best supporting actor in a comedy.

Shalhoub took his fourth Emmy on Sunday night at the Microsoft Theater for his role on Amazon’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”

He won three previous Emmys for lead actor in a comedy series for “Monk.”

He beat out competitors that included Henry Winkler from “Barry” and Tony Hale from “Veep.”

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5 p.m.

Homer Simpson was about to host the Emmys, until a piano got in the way.

On the 30th anniversary of “The Simpsons,” he took the stage at the Microsoft Theater to open the host-less Emmys telecast on Sunday, and as he called it an honour he was smashed by an animated grand piano.

Anthony Anderson of “black-ish” then took over, staging a search for the right person to deliver present a montage on the power of television.

He found Bryan Cranston, who did the honours.

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4:50 p.m.

Billy Porter didn’t disappoint on the Emmys carpet from his head to his feet.

The 50-year-old star of “Pose” wore a striped silver crystal suit by Michael Kors Couture, topped by a dramatic black hat with a huge swoop by Stephen Jones Millinery.

His platform shoes helped him “be a little taller.”

Porter says his fashion esthetic boils down to “always be playful, always have fun and always make a statement. It’s fashion as activism.”

Porter could make Emmy history as the first openly gay man to win best actor in a drama series.

Porter says he’s “so grateful that I’ve lived long enough to see a day that looks like this.

— Beth Harris, @bethharrisap and Michael Cindoni Lennox, @cidonilennox

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4:30 p.m.

Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen win the Emmys early bird award.

They were in their seats an hour before show time Sunday afternoon, just sitting and chatting and browsing the program, while most celebrities were waiting until the very last minute to take their seats in the Microsoft Theater.

Danson is nominated for outstanding lead actor in a comedy series for his role in NBC’s afterlife show “The Good Place.”

“This is Us” star Milo Ventimiglia had the crowd buzzing minutes later as he made his entrance. Flanked by two dates — his parents — Ventimiglia paused and said “wait a minute” as he took his phone out of his pocket, posed and instructed them to turn around for a selfie with the grand Emmys stage as the backdrop.

Ventimiglia is up for lead actor in a drama series.

— Lindsey Bahr (@ldbahr on Twitter)

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4 p.m.

The carpet outside may be bustling and sweltering, but it’s calm and cool inside the Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles with just over an hour to go until the Emmy Awards begin.

A few attendees are taking their seats Sunday afternoon as members of the production crew polish and sweep the big stage to get it ready for the cameras.

Others are taking their time in the lobby, some hoping to catch a glimpse of a few stars, others just stocking up on sustenance for the big show. Concession options include champagne, beer, popcorn, pretzels and candy bars and gummy bears.

The show starts and the telecast begins on Fox at 5 p.m.

— Lindsey Bahr (@ldbahr on Twitter)

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3:45 p.m.

“Veep” has come to an end, but the Emmys represent one last bash for the cast led by Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Her co-star Sam Richardson says the actors and crew would normally be going back to work on a new season by now, but the show has already filmed its finale.

He says the Emmys offer a chance for the cast to see each other and “be a family again for at least one more night.”

Unlike some other shows ending their runs whose finales fans have grumbled about, Richardson believes “Veep” ”really stuck the landing at the end.”

It’s nominated for comedy series and Louis-Dreyfus is again vying for lead comedy actress, a category she has dominated over the years.

Richardson brightened at the suggestion of a possible “Veep” movie.

He laughed and said, “Let’s all work together to make that happen.”

— Beth Harris, @bethharrisap, Michael Cidoni Lennox, @CindoniLennox

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3:28 p.m.

The Emmys purple carpet lit up early Sunday with the child stars from “This is Us,” including Eris Baker in striking gray and a stunning head piece to match.

The 14-year-old who plays teen Tess Pearson walked in Tadashi Shoji, while her screen little sister Annie, played by 10-year-old Faithe Herman, walked in a very grown-up yellow gown.

Eris called the inspiration for her look a “futuristic princess,” and that’s how it made her feel.

Lonnie Chavis, 11, the kid Randall on the NBC hit, opted for red lapels on his tuxedo. Papa Jack Pearson, otherwise known as Milo Ventimiglia, walked in a taupe jacket.

Others in the cast also slayed as the fashion march got under way. They include Chris Sullivan, who walked on the carpet in plaid.

— Leanne Italie

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2:15 p.m.

It’s 92 degrees on the purple carpet leading into the Emmys.

Large fans are whirring overhead along the carpet and host network Fox has added water elements to the scene, perhaps instilling a sense of coolness even while the last day of summer is unbearably hot in Los Angeles.

Early arrivals included Jenny McCarthy and drama actor nominees Sterling K. Brown and Bob Odenkirk. Also early were Sharon and Kelly Osbourne, who is hosting Fox’s Emmy pre-show.

“Access Hollywood” host Mario Lopez arrived with an additional accessory, a sling for his recently injured arm.

— Beth Harris (@bethharrisap on Twitter)

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10 a.m.

Records could be broken at the 2019 Emmy Awards by “Game of Thrones” and “Veep” star Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

The HBO fantasy saga already has the most awards for a show in one season, 12, and it’s competing Sunday in seven categories.

If Louis-Dreyfus wins top comedy actress honours for “Veep,” she’ll have a total of nine Emmys, the most ever for a performer.

Other contenders to keep an eye on include Sandra Oh of “Killing Eve” and Billy Porter of “Pose,” both vying for top drama series acting awards.

Oh could become the actress of Asian descent to win in the category, and Porter could be the first openly gay actor to nab a trophy.

The 71st annual Emmy Awards airs at 8 p.m. EDT Sunday on Fox.