Prior to the Emmy nominations being announced, the Television Academy made a minor but significant change – actors and actresses now have the option to be recognized as “performer”.  Any of the nominees could “request that their nomination certificate and Emmy statuette carry the term ‘Performer’ in place of ‘Actor’ or ‘Actress’.”  Try explaining that to people who believe Jean Smart and Michael Douglas are in the same category.

With this “woke” bit of tweaking, the nominations were announced – and some history was made.  Mj Rodriguez became the first openly transgender woman to be nominated in “Best Lead Actress in a Drama”.  Yes, Laverne Cox was previously nominated as a supporting actress (or “performer”).  And yes, Wikipedia tells us that Rain Valdez got a short-form nomination for something called “Razor Tongue” a while back.  By the by, Bowen Yang also made history as the first “featured player” on Saturday Night Live to get a nomination.  Congrats to all.