Marvelous Mrs. Maisel's Alex Borstein Dedicates Her Emmy to Her Grandmother, a Holocaust Survivor
Alex Borstein moved the audience to laughter and tears with her poignant acceptance speech at the 2019 Emmy Awards on Sunday.
For the second year in a row, Borstein won the award for best supporting actress in a comedy series for her role as brash comedy manager Susie Myerson in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. She was up against her Maisel costar Marin Hinkle, Sarah Goldberg for Barry, Sian Clifford for Fleabag, Olivia Colman for Fleabag, Betty Gilpin for GLOW, Kate McKinnon for Saturday Night Live and Anna Chlumsky for Veep.
After chugging from a miniature bottle of Fireball with her seat neighbor Seth MacFarlane, the actress, 48, took the stage to deliver her speech.
“Ibid,” she began. “I don’t know — wow.”
“I know a lot of people were upset last year because I wasn’t wearing a bra,” she joked, referencing the silver gown she wore to the awards show last year, which also happens to be the dress she wore to marry her now ex-husband Jackson Douglas.
“Tonight, I want to apologize because I’m not wearing any underwear,” she continued. “You’ll want to throw that chair out, or clean it. It looks like pretty on TV, but it’s like a hot Bikram yoga class in here, a lot of nervous women.”
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Continuing, Borstein hit a more serious note in her speech, dedicating her award to Maisel creator Amy Sherman-Palladino, as well as every woman on the cast and crew, and last but not least, to her mother and grandmother.
“They are immigrants, they are Holocaust survivors,” she said.
“My grandmother was in line to be shot into a pit. She said, ‘What happens if I step out of line?’ [The guard] said, ‘I don’t have the heart to shoot you, but somebody will,’ and she stepped out of line.”
“For that, I am here and my children are here. So step out of line, ladies. Step out of line!”
It’s shaping up to be a marvelous evening for the Amazon series: Tony Shalhoub won best supporting actor for playing the father of Rachel Brosnahan‘s beloved Midge Maisel. Brosnahan is nominated for best actress for the role, and the show itself is up for outstanding comedy series.
The 71st Primetime Emmy Awards are airing live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles starting at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Fox.
