Well-deserved: Ava Duvernay’s ‘When They See Us’ earns a whopping 16 Emmy nominations
Written By Ella Townsend // TV & Awards // EEW Magazine
Ava Duvernay’s gripping four-part series, “When They See Us,” which impacted 23 million Netflix accounts worldwide, has racked up a whopping 16 Emmy Award nominations.
“Thank you to the real men for inviting me to tell their story,” wrote director, co-writer and producer, DuVernay, on Twitter, celebrating all the nods, which include Outstanding Limited Series, outstanding lead actor in a limited series or movie for Jharrel Jerome, and outstanding lead actress in a limited series or movie nominations for Niecy Nash and Aunjanue Ellis.
Her appreciative online message addressed “The Exonerated Five,” the real men behind the true story—Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise—as well as the Television Academy “for honoring the work.”
(L-R) Raymond Santana Jr., Kevin Richardson, Korey Wise, Ava DuVernay, Antron Mccray, and Yusef Salaam attend the World Premiere of Netflix's "When They See Us" at the Apollo Theater on May 20, 2019 in New York City. (Credit: GETTY)
DuVernay also picked up a directing and co-writing nomination with Michael Starrbury.
EEW Magazine gave the exceptional series five stars and recommended it to our readers, calling it “must-see.” It is the true tale of five innocent black and Latino teenagers, known as the “Central Park Five,” being wrongfully found guilty of rape and jailed.
The convictions were later vacated after Matias Reyes, a convicted serial rapist, copped to the crime. The series shines a glaring spotlight on the police and prosecutorial abuse the teens and their families said they endured, and the subsequent struggles they faced as adults.
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