Lena Waithe, who plays the hilarious Denise on the Netflix series Master of None, just made Emmy history as the first African American woman to be nominated in the Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series category.
The writer/actress racked up the nomination for the show’s season two episode, “Thanksgiving,” which she penned alongside co-creator Aziz Ansari.
“I didn’t know I was the first black woman until people were saying that and saying it to me, and I was like, ‘Is that true?'” Waithe said, according to LA Times. “The first woman of color was Mindy Kaling; I think that was for an episode of The Office she wrote. And I’m the first African American woman. And to be in 2017, it speaks to where we are in terms of, I think we’re making progress in our industry, but I think what this says to me is we still have a lot of work to do. And I’m fighting to make sure it happens…”
Master Of None is a great show, and Waithe’s nomination is well-deserved.
“I’m the first black woman to be nominated,” Waithe said. “Hopefully, not the last. We’ve got to work on that.” – we hope so too!
