Pose Star Billy Porter Among 2019 Emmy Award Winners: 'The Category Is Love!'

Billy Porter, the Broadway veteran most known for his Tony-winning turn in Kinky Boots, took home the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series on September 22; he is the first openly gay black man to do so. This marks the first Emmy nomination and win for Porter, triumphing for his fiery turn as Pray Tell on Ryan Murphy's Pose. He was also Golden Globe-nominated for his performance on the hit series. With a Tony and a Grammy for Kinky Boots already under his belt, Porter is now one Academy Award away from EGOT status.

"The category is love, y'all," Porter proclaimed upon accepting his Emmy. "I am so overwhelmed, but I am so overjoyed, too, that I've lived long enough to see this day. James Baldwin said, 'It took many years of vomiting up all the filth I had been taught about myself and halfway believed before I could walk around this earth like I had the right to be here.' I have the right. You have the right. We all have the right." 

Tony nominee Michelle Williams (Blackbird) also received her first Emmy Award for her leading performance as Gwen Verdon in Fosse/Verdon, the acclaimed Broadway-pedigree miniseries about the romantic and professional partnership between Bob Fosse and Verdon.

"I want to say thank you so much to FX and to Fox 21 Studios for supporting me completely and for paying me equally," she said when she took the podium. "They understood that when you put value into a person, it empowers that person to get in touch with their own inherent value, and then where do they put that value? They put it into their work."

Other theater-related Emmy winners on the big night included Tony winner Tony Shalhoub (The Band's Visit) for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Broadway alum Ben Whishaw (The Crucible) for Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for A Very English Scandal.

In addition, Phoebe Waller-Bridge's acclaimed series Fleabag, which was adapted from a hit solo play, won four Emmys on September 22, including a win for Outstanding Comedy Series and a trophy for Waller-Bridge as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. She also earned an Emmy Award for Writing for a Comedy for her work on Fleabag episode one; Harry Bradbeer also took home an Emmy for directing it.

As previously announced, the Creative Arts Emmy Awards winners included Tony winner Alex Lacamoire (Dear Evan Hansen, Hamilton) for his music direction of Fosse/Verdon, theater set designer Jason Sherwood (off-Broadway's The View UpStairs, This Ain't No Disco) for his production design of Rent Live and two-time Tony-winning actress Cherry Jones (Doubt, The Heiress) for a guest turn on The Handmaid's Tale.

The 71st Annual Primetime Emmys were held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. For a full list of winners, click here.