As fans of HBO’s “Insecure” can attest, one of the biggest surprises from last week’s Emmy nominations announcement was the lack of love for Issa Rae‘s comedy series.
“Insecure,” which returns for Season 2 on July 23, has earned high praise from critics and was expected by some pundits to be in the mix for best comedy series, along with potentially earning a nod for Rae as best comedy actress. Alas, there was no recognition for the show that Rae adapted from her “Awkward Black Girl” web series.
“I get it,” she told The Wrap. “There’s just so much good, good TV out there. The fact that we were being considered in the first place, it was already like, ‘This is dope.’”
“All I could think was how dope it would have been and how great it would have been for the exposure of the show because I feel like more and more people are slowly becoming aware about our show,” the creator, showrunner and star of “Insecure” continued. “And then when you get nominated for an Emmy, obviously more people pay attention — it sort of fast-tracks it. So for that alone, I was bummed.”
Rae pointed out that the lack of Emmys attention “motivates us all to work harder.” She added that the show’s team is “very, very proud of the work that we’re doing and stand behind it. So we’ll just see what happens next year.”
There’s no question that TV has made definite strides in becoming more diverse over the years. However, it’s notable that none of the 14 series nominated for best comedy or best drama features a solo female showrunner or creator.
“There’s not a big pool,” Rae said about this statistic. “This is something that just started happening in the last couple of years, where you have shows led by women. So it feels like the television academy just needs to catch up.”
“Insecure” launches Season 2 on Sunday at 10:30 p.m. ET on HBO.