July 14, 2016• byMichael Strangeways

(Photo: Mathu Anderson)

It aired its 8th season this year and frankly, it’s not as good as it used to be, but drag superstar and host RuPaul Charles and LOGO TV’s “RuPaul’s Drag Race” both finally snagged Emmy Award nominations earlier today as the The 68th annual Primetime Emmy Award nominations were announced in Los Angeles. RuPaul has long been rumored to have been a contender for “Best Host of a Reality or Reality-Competition Program” but never managed to break through until this year.

“Mama Ru” is competing against: American Idol’s Ryan Seacrest, Dancing With the Stars’ Tom Bergeron, Hollywood Game Night’s Jane Lynch, Little Big Shots’ Steve Harvey and Project Runway’s Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn.

With Jane Lynch, Tim Gunn and RuPaul in the running, this is quite the queer category.

Oh. And, Ryan Seacrest. He’s….quite the talent.

Ahem.

RuPaul is VERY excited about his nomination and had this to say:

“I dedicate this nomination to outsiders everywhere. Brave souls who, against all odds, stick to their dreams and make the world a more colorful place. On behalf of those people — my tribe — I am so grateful.”

RPDR also snagged another nom: Zaldy Goco was cited for best costumes for a variety, nonfiction or reality program. Zaldy is up against designers from Dancing With the Stars, Grease: Live, Saturday Night Live and The Wiz Live!

We do not have a clue who Zaldy Goco is….but we’re curious to know!

Other queer programming also earned Emmy love including multiple nominations for Transparent (Amazon), the groundbreaking show about a elder trans woman played by Jeffrey Tambor, who was nominated as Best Actor in a Comedy.

Out icon Lily Tomlin was nominated as Best Actress in a Comedy for her work in Grace & Frankie. Other out actors who received nominations: Tituss Burgess as Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy for Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Sarah Paulsen who grabbed two nominations; one for Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or a Television Movie for her work in American Horror Story: Hotel and a Best Actress in a Limited Series or a Television Movie nod for her work as the real life Marcia Clark in the highly acclaimed docudrama, The People v. O.J. Simpson.

Other queer themed nominations include:

Mapplethorpe: Look At The Pictures (HBO) for Best Documentary
Gaycation with Ellen Page (Viceland) for Best Unstructured Reality Series.
Lip Sync Battle (Spike), which isn’t specifically gay but is an obvious rip-off of RPDR’s “Lip Sync For Your Life” grabbed a nod for Best Structured Reality Series.

Not queer per se but she is beloved by some members of the community as the ultimate diva: Beyonce’s Lemonade (HBO) is up for Best Variety Special.

Full list of Emmy noms is HERE!

And, “Condragulations to RuPaul, Zaldy, World of Wonder and LOGO on their Emmy noms!”

May the Best….Nominee….

WIN!!!!

The 68th annual Primetime Emmy Awards airs Sept. 18 live on ABC from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

Update: We stand corrected. RPDR did get an Emmy nomination last year for Make-Up.

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About the Author: Michael Strangeways

As the Editorial Director/Co-Owner, Michael Strangeways writes, edits and does about a million other jobs for Seattle Gay Scene, Puget Sound's most visited LGBTQ news, arts and entertainment website now celebrating its 14th year as a media outlet. A semi-proud Midwesterner by birth, he's lived in Seattle since 2000. He's also a film producer who would like you to check out the Jinkx Monsoon documentary, "Drag Becomes Him" now available on Amazon.com. In his spare time, he gets slightly obsessive about his love for old movies, challenging theater, "otters", vodka, chocolate, "I,Claudius", Lizzie Borden, real books made out of paper, disaster films, show tunes, Weimar era Germany, flea markets, pop surrealistic art, the sex lives of Hollywood actors both living and dead, kitties, chicken fried steak, haute couture and David Bowie. But, not necessarily in that order.