Quinta Brunson is having the last laugh when it comes to Jimmy Kimmel’s Emmy’s stunt.
The “Abbott Elementary” creator and star interrupted the late-night host’s monologue during his Sept. 14 episode, calling out his poorly received comedy bit during her Emmys acceptance speech.
“I just have a little favor to ask. So you know how when you win an Emmy you only have 45 seconds to do an acceptance speech, which is like not that much time,” she began. “And then … you get less time because someone does a dumb comedy bit that goes on a bit too long?”
“Well, I was wondering, or more demanding, if I can (get) a couple of extra minutes to thank a couple of extra people I didn’t get to on Monday night,” she added, before Kimmel gave her the stage and she delivered another acceptance speech.
The two later sat down for a formal interview, where Kimmel apologized to Brunson for stealing her moment during the Sept. 12 Emmys.
While presenting, Kimmel was dragged by Will Arnett onto the stage by his foot. Arnett joked that the TV host passed out drinking too much after losing the variety talk series award. When Brunson won the Emmy for outstanding writing in a comedy series, she had to step over Kimmel to give her acceptance speech.
“That was a dumb comedy bit that we thought it would be funny, I lost and then I drank too much and I had to be dragged out on the stage. And then people got upset,” Kimmel said on his talk show. “They said I stole your moment and maybe I did and I’m very sorry if I did do that. I’m sorry I did do that actually.”
He added, “The last thing I would ever want to do is upset you because I think so much of you and I think you know that. I hope you know that.”
Brunson thanked Kimmel for his apology, saying that it was “very kind” of him to say that.
“I honestly was in such a moment of just having a good time, like, I won my first Emmy! I was up there, happy,” she said. “I was wrapped up in the moment and just having a good time. I don’t know. I didn’t see any of that. I saw you and I saw Will Arnett and my Emmy, and I was just like, ‘Oh my god, I’m having so much fun.’ But thank you. That’s kind, but honestly I had a good night.”
People on social media, however, didn’t take the moment too lightly, calling it “disrespectful.”
“Abbott Elementary” actor Sheryl Lee Ralph, who also won an Emmy that night, agreed.
“I was absolutely confused. I didn’t know what was going on,” Ralph said during a virtual panel for ABC’s presentation at the TCA’s summer press tour. “I was like, ‘I wish that man would just get up off of the ground.’ And then I realized it was Jimmy Kimmel, and I was like, ‘Ooh, the disrespect, Jimmy!’ But that’s just me.”
Brunson appeared to have let it slide that night, holding her award in front of Kimmel’s face after her win.
She also told reporters in the Emmys press room that it hadn’t bothered her “that much.”
“I know Jimmy Kimmel, and I don’t know, I feel like the bit didn’t bother me that much. I don’t know what the internet thinks,” she said, mentioning that the host gave her her “first big late-night spot.”