Non-binary performers are being offered a gender-neutral award option at the Daytime Emmy Awards, which will once again skip the Lifetime Achievement Award section of the broadcast.
The changes keep coming for the 48th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards. Hot on the heels of the news that the event's red carpet ceremony was held early (on the evening of Monday, June 21) comes news that Emmy nominees will soon have the option to use the gender-neutral term "performer" rather than "actor" or "actress."
The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS) announced the change in a statement that reads, "No performer category titled 'actor' or 'actress' has ever had a gender requirement for submissions. Now, nominees and (or) winners in any performer category titled 'actor' or 'actress' may request that their nomination certificate and Emmy statuette carry the term 'performer' in place of 'actor' or 'actress'."
The push for gender-neutral Emmy awards was led by Billions star Asia Kate Dillon, who wrote an impassioned letter to the Academy in 2017 highlighting their concern that there seemed to be "no room for my identity" at the awards ceremony.
"I'd like to know if in your eyes 'actor' and 'actress' denote anatomy or identity and why it is necessary to denote either in the first place?" Dillon asked in her letter.
As MSN reports, the Academy was "100 per cent supportive" of Dillon's concerns and pointed to existing rules which state that "anyone can submit under either category for any reason." Dillon was offered their own gender category but opted for the existing "Supporting Actor" category, stating that "given the choice between actor and actress, actor is a non-gendered word that I use."
While it won't factor into this Friday's Daytime Emmy Awards, the gender-neutral award option will be available starting at the continuation of the Daytime Emmy Awards in July (the Daytime Children's Programming and Animation Emmy Awards on Saturday, July 17, and the Daytime Lifestyle Programming Emmy Awards on Sunday, July 18).
In more Daytime Emmys news, NATAS has announced that the Emmys broadcast will for the second year in a row forgo the annual Lifetime Achievement Award. According to Variety, the feeling was that "anyone worthy of being recognized with such an honor shouldn't be deprived of the opportunity of experiencing that moment in person."
The last Daytime Emmys Lifetime Achievement Awards were last handed out in 2019 when Judge Judy Sheindlin and chef Jacques Ppin were recipients.
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The 48th annual Daytime Emmy Awards are set to air this Friday, June 25th, on CBS at 8PM EST. For more information about what to expect during the Emmys broadcast, click here and don't forget to read Soap Central's exclusive interviews with the nominees!
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