History was made at last night’s Emmy Awards. It came in the form of Jharrel Jerome. With his win for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series, for his portayal of Korey Wise in the Netflix series When They See Us. The win makes Jharrel Jerome the first Afro-Latino to win an Emmy for acting.
Yet, the acceptance speech is just as compelling as the achievement. The Dominican actor who hails from the Bronx, sauntered to the stage to accept his award with Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” playing in the background. Jerome thanked the five men known as the exonerated five, his mother, his team, referred to his dad as papi, even dropped in a “te queiro” which had the audience and Twitter all abuzz. See the speech below.