Jennifer Coolidge Thanks "All the Evil Gays" in Iconic Emmys Acceptance Speech

Jennifer Coolidge on stage at the 2024 Emmy Awards

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Leave it to Jennifer Coolidge to deliver yet another iconic awards show speech.

While accepting the 2024 Emmy Award for Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, Coolidge made her White Lotus character, Tanya McQuoid, proud. In a nod to Tanya's now-legendary line, "These gays, they're trying to murder me," Coolidge used her speech to thank said "evil gays" by name, including her costars Paolo Camilli, Bruno Gouery, and Francesco Zecca. "I want to thank all the evil gays," the actress said. "Really."

Coolidge also brought the laughs when she set her Emmy Award statue on the ground at the start of her acceptance speech, saying she didn't "have the strength" to hold it up. (She also said that according to White Lotus creator Mike White, Tanya is "definitely dead," so don't expect Coolidge to win a third Emmy for the role.)

Jennifer Coolidge putting her Emmy on the ground

To make things sweeter, Coolidge's White Lotus costar Michael Imperioli presented the award. And while the actress joked that she "got the hook last year" for delivering too long an Emmy acceptance speech, she went overtime this year, too.

Coolidge's speech was met with lighthearted criticism from Anthony Anderson's mom, Doris Hancox, who was tasked with making sure the acceptance speeches stayed on track, time-wise. To be fair to Coolidge, though, she could probably keep the crowd laughing all night.

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Meghan is a freelance news writer at Marie Claire. Her work has also appeared in Bustle, Refinery29, Popsugar, and other outlets. When she isn't writing, Meghan runs a community for plus-size people in the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina.