Sarah Paulson took to the stage Sunday night to accept the Emmy for best actress in a miniseries — as pretty much every prognosticator expected — and made an apology to her date, Marcia Clark, in the process.
Paulson played the former Los Angeles District Attorney in FX’s “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story,” befriending the former prosecutor and now novelist while researching the role. Paulson invited Clark to accompany her to the Emmys, and when she finally stepped to the podium to give the speech much of the country was expecting, she used that platform to say she was sorry for her understanding of Clark at the time of the O.J. Simpson trial.
“The responsibility of playing a real person is an enormous one, you want to get it right — not for you, but for them. The more I learned about the real Marcia Clark, not the two-dimensional cardboard cutout I saw on the news, but the complicated whip-smart, giant-hearted mother of two, who woke up every day put both feet on the floor and dedicated herself to writing an unconscionable wrong … the more I had to recognize that I, along with the rest of the world, had been superficial and careless in my judgement, and I’m glad to be able to stand here today in front of everyone and tell you I’m sorry.”
The actress also thanked her “People Vs. O.J. Simpson” co-star Sterling K. Brown — who played Clark’s prosecuting partner, Christopher Darden — saying without his performance, hers would not be possible. “People v. O.J. Simpson” was nominated for 22 Emmys.
Watch the video above.