D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, the star of the critically acclaimed series Reservation Dogs, caught the world's attention at the 2024 Emmy Awards with a symbolic gesture. The actor, who won the award for Best Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, showed up to the red carpet clad in an all-black ensemble.
He had a red handprint painted over his mouth, which was a statement of solidarity with the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) movement.
The MMIW movement stands for "all the missing sisters whose voices are not heard" and "the silence of the media and law enforcement in this crisis," according to the Native Hope organization.
D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai's actions garnered him respect and praise online. "He presented the issue, which is hardly ever discussed, to the world in such an excellent manner. Salute to him, nothing could be better than this," one user shared.
Several others echoed this sentiment, lauding D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai for standing up for the helpless women.
"I think he’s the first indigenous actor nominated in a leading actor category? And he’s taking the opportunity to draw attention to missing and murdered indigenous women. King!," one user dubbed him.
"Yo this is amazing and good on him using his platform to promote Native American issues. We don’t talk nearly enough about the missing and murdered women on reservations and frankly I myself wasn’t aware of the situation being that bad until today," another user shared.
An increasing number of people joined in to commend the young D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai for his work.
"It's so important to see these issues being highlighted on major platforms like the Emmys. We all need to raise awareness and educate ourselves on this ongoing tragedy. Thanks for using your voice and platform to shed light on this," someone chimed in.
D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai says he related to Bear from Reservation Dogs "right off the bat"
D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai has never been one to shy away from bringing up Indigenous issues in Hollywood. His show Reservation Dogs finished off on FX on Hulu this year, which earned him his first Emmy Award. The show also nabbed a nomination for Best Comedy Series. In speaking with The Hollywood Reporter in August 2024, he said:
“The writers room was all Indigenous, and they knew that they wanted to tell their stories, and in telling their own stories, they told the stories of a lot of other Native kids out there as well, me being one of them. I related to Bear right off the bat, and I see a lot of similarities within myself, within my cousins and my nephews, and with family and friends. There are definitely a lot of Bears in the world and in what we call Indian Country, just like there are Willie Jacks everywhere or Elora Danans or Cheeses everywhere.”
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The 2024 Emmy Awards were held on Sunday night, September 15, 2024, at the Peacock Theater at L.A. LIVE in downtown Los Angeles. It was co-hosted by father-son duo Eugene Levy and Dan Levy.
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