The stars are aligning to give this year’s Emmy telecast a guaranteed pop culture moment — a live appearance from Beyonce Knowles.
Thanks to some lucky timing and an opening in the pop superstar’s tour schedule, it’s very possible we’ll see her on September 18 at the Microsoft Theater.
The singer’s groundbreaking visual album “Lemonade,” which first aired as mysterious hour-long HBO special on April 23, received four nominations in the Variety Specials category: Outstanding Directing (for Beyonce and Kahlil Joseph), Picture Editing, Production Design and Music Or Comedy Special.
All of those categories except directing have traditionally been presented at the Creative Arts Emmys, a ceremony held one week before the starry broadcast and reserved for technical prizes and categories like Outstanding Guest Actor/Actress.
But for the last several years, Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special has been announced on the telecast every other year, in rotation with Outstanding Directing in a Variety Series. (Similarly, the Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special/Variety Series categories alternate year to year.) This year, as sure as the wind machines that blow through Beyonce’s hair in concert, Variety Special is due for its televised turn at bat.
If she were to attend — and win — she’d accept the prize live. The TV Academy declined to comment on whether the Variety Special directing award would be included in this year’s telecast, saying the show is still in planning stages. A spokesperson for Beyonce did not return TheWrap’s request for comment.
The project’s positive reception and her first ever directing nomination would provide plenty of incentive for Beyonce to make her Emmy debut, not to mention the fact that she’s available.
Her lucrative Formation World Tour does not have a show scheduled on the Emmys’ September 18 airdate. She does have a performance the evening before, conveniently close by in Santa Clara, California.
But “Lemonade” does face some stiff competition in its category.
Beyonce and Joseph are up against Beth McCarthy-Miller‘s “Adele Live in New York City,” Chris Rock for HBO’s “Amy Schumer: Live at the Apollo,” Alex Rudzinski andThomas Kail’s universally praised “Grease: Live” and the directors of the 58th Grammy Awards and last year’s annual Kennedy Center Honors.
The “Lemonade” nominations mark two of four for Beyonce. She was previously nominated in 2015 for her HBO concert special “On the Run,” which excerpted her joint world tour with Jay-Z.
Her 2013 Super Bowl half-time performance was nominated for Outstanding Short-Format Live-Action Entertainment Program.
The Primetime Emmy Awards air September 18 on ABC.
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