Zendaya Makes Emmy History

The 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards took place on Sunday Sept. 20. With winners from every corner of television being awarded for their excellence and talent in the industry. This year, history was made by actress and singer, Zendaya.

Zendaya was nominated for Lead Drama Actress along with five other widely known actresses like Jennifer Aniston and Sandra Oh. At only 24 years old, she set a record for the youngest actor to ever win an Emmy. She won for her role as Rue Bennet in the hit HBO show “Euphoria.”

Not only is Zendaya the youngest winner in all 72 years of the Emmy Awards, but she is also the second black woman to win, preceded only by Viola Davis.

“Euphoria” is a groundbreaking show that follows a group of teenagers as they navigate through drug addiction, their personal identities, and everything that a normal teenager may go through. The show received a mature rating and was given overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics.

However, immediately after her win, hundreds of people flooded twitter with hateful comments towards the actress. There were so many Tweets directed towards her that only five minutes after her win, Zendaya’s name was trending on Twitter with over 200,000 tweets under it, with a majority of them being negative.

Many claimed someone so young could not beat actresses with decades of experience, like Aniston and Oh. Others claimed her win was the entertainment industry trying to “meet a quota” in regards to acknowledging actors and actresses of color.

Even with the almost overwhelming amount of animosity pushing towards her, Zendaya chose not to respond to any negativity regarding her award, and has only referred to her Emmy in a positive light.