John Legend has just proven again why he’s a multi-hyphenate, killing it in Hollywood. On Sunday night, he became the first Black man to earn an EGOT — having earned an Emmy Award, a Grammy Award, an Oscar and a Tony Award.
The 39-year-old father of two officially became EGOT status after earning a Creative Arts Emmy Award for producing Jesus Christ Superstar Live.
His wife of five years, model Chrissy Teigen, celebrated his feat on Twitter by writing as a caption: “EGOT GOATS.” In the photo, Legend is joined by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, who also earned EGOT status during the two-day awards ceremony.
Legend joins Whoopi Goldberg, who’s the only other Black actor to earn an EGOT. She collected all four awards back in 2002.
Along with his Emmy, Legend holds 10 Grammy Awards, an Oscar thanks to his song “Glory,” which was featured in Selma, and a Tony Award for co-producing Jitney.
On day one of the ceremony, Black actors also impressed — they swept all the guest acting categories.
The biggest surprise was definitely comedian Katt Williams’ win for his turn as Alligator Man in FX’s Atlanta. Ron Cephas Jones in NBC’s This Is Us, Samira Wiley in Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale and Tiffany Haddish for her hosting role in NBC’s Saturday Night Live also took home guest acting awards.
Haddish was not in the building to accept her first Emmy, but according to USA Today, Tichina Arnold, who presented the award, was happy to hold on to it for her.
“Tiffany couldn’t be here tonight. But, guess what, Tiffany? I’ve got your award, girl!” Arnold said, holding up the statuette triumphantly.
According to Deadline, this year’s wins for Black guest actors was the most ever. Before Saturday night, there had been only two instances of multiple wins for Black guest actors — in 2003 and 2014. However, in both years, two of the four winners were people of color.
Although the Creative Arts Emmy Awards was held over the weekend, the ceremony will air on September 15 on FXX.
