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History was made when Riz Ahmed won an Emmy award. He is the first Asian man of Pakistani descent to take home the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie award at the Emmy’s. This is the first time a Muslim man won an award at the Emmy awards, the previous one was for Archie Punjabi for her role in ‘The Good Wife’ in 2010.
Ahmed plays a role in HBO’s ‘The Night Of’ as a nerdy Pakistani guy that is accused of murder. The serie is an eight-part crime drama based on criminal justice. It is also seen for having criticism on the American justice system because of judges wanting to solve murder cases without asking too many questions.
While proudly accepting his award he also said: “It’s always strange reaping the rewards of a story that’s based on real-world suffering, but if this show has shown a light on some of the prejudice in our society, some of the injustice in our justice system, maybe that’s something.” The show took eight months to shoot and he found it very difficult to act as a prisoner who got to go home at the end of the day: ‘I can’t even begin to think what it must be like for people who live in that situation’. This slow progress of minorities being recognized for their talents is an absolute victory.
