Seeing the cast of Beef win has been a joy this award season. Both Ali Wong and Steven Yeun have been taking home awards at both the Golden Globes and now the Emmys! They took home their Emmys, for starring in Beef as Amy Lau and Danny Cho, with powerful speeches.
First to win was Steven Yeun, who took home the award for Outstanding Actor in a Limited Series or Movie and, in his speech, talked a lot about how there were moments when filming that were hard with a character like Danny. “Thank you for this immense honor and blessing,” said Yeun. “Man, I have a lot of people to thank. A lot of people that looked out for me on my way to even get to be in this business.”
He went on to talk about Danny, saying, “There were days when it was difficult to live in Danny’s skin. Sometimes I wanted to judge him; sometimes I wanted to make fun of him.” But then he got advice from Beef’s on-set photographer, Andrew Cooper, who said to him, “Never bail on Danny.”
In the end of his speech, he thanked Danny Cho for what he taught him throughout the process: “I wanna thank Danny for teaching me that judgment and shame is a lonely place, but compassion and grace is where we can all meet.”
After Yeun’s win, Ali Wong took home the award for Outstanding Actress in a Limited Series or Movie and used her speech to thank her parents first. “I wouldn’t be standing here without my parents, my amazing parents, my mother and my father who I so wish was alive to share this moment with me,” Wong said. “My hilarious father who loved me unconditionally and taught me the value of failure.”
She finished her speech by thanking her daughters: “To my beautiful daughters, you are my everything and thank you for inspiring me. This is for you.” Yeun and Wong’s wins are part of the 8 Emmy Awards the show won overall.
Ali Wong and Steven Yeun join the show and Lee Sung Jin in their Emmy wins!
During Lee Sung Jin’s speech for the show taking home Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series, we got another brilliant speech—one that was filled with thanks to the fans who shared their stories with the creative team. “Wow, thank you. You know, a lot of the suicidal ideation in this show was based on stuff that I and some of the folks up here have struggled with over the years,” he said. “So I’m really grateful and humbled by everyone who watched the show and reached out about their own personal struggles. It’s very life-affirming, so thank you.”
He went on to talk about the world as a whole and how it has made Beef so special for him. “I feel like we live in a world designed to kind of keep us separate,” he continued. “Even here, some of us go home with trophies, other people don’t. I think for some of us when we live in a world like this, you begin to think there’s no way anyone can ever understand you or like you or much less no potential at being loved. So the greatest joy of working on Beef has truly been working with the folks up here who loved so unconditionally. Thank you to them. To anyone out there who directly or indirectly was involved with the show, thank you so much.”
At the end, he said probably the most relatable thing in the world by asking for them to hurry up with the anti-aging pill for pets: “Lastly, everything I do is for my three dogs. The federal drug administration, if you please fast track that canine anti-aging pill that would be so lovely.”
Congrats to the cast of Beef, and if you haven’t watched it yet, it is on Netflix now!
(featured image: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
