Emily in Paris under fire over Emmy nomination for Best Comedy: ‘Are you f***ing serious?’

Show was widely condemned for its stereotypical portrayal of French culture

The success of Netflix’s much-derided series Emily in Paris continues to baffle critics, following the news that it is now nominated for an Emmy.

The nominations were announced yesterday (Tuesday 13 July) and revealed that the show starring Lily Collins is up for Best Comedy. It is competing against series including PEN15, Cobra Kai, black-ish and The Kominsky Method.

Many have questioned how a show widely considered to make a mockery of French culture was nominated over Steve McQueen’s critically adored Small Axe anthology series.

“Wait Emily in Paris is a comedy?” one person queried.

“Emily in Paris is nominated. Again,” another wrote. “Which says a lot about the whole [voting] process.”

“Emily in Paris getting nominated for Best Comedy is my Joker origin story,” one critic said.

“Emily in Paris is the new Maisel,” wrote the New Yorker’s Emily Nussbaum, referring to Amazon Prime’s The Marvelous Mrs Maisel. “But at least Maisel was bulls*** in a lively, debatable way – EiP is just bad yogurt. I genuinely don’t get why anyone would vote for it.”

A similar snub took place at the Golden Globes when Michaela Coel’s universally acclaimed BBC series I May Destroy You was overlooked, again in favour of Emily in Paris.

The uproar prompted one of the writers on Emily in Paris, Deborah Copaken, to write a comment piece for The Guardian expressing her upset that her show had been chosen over Coel’s.

“I May Destroy You was not only my favourite show of 2020,” she wrote. “It’s my favourite show ever.”

You can find a full list of this year’s Emmy nominations here and a breakdown of the snubs and surprises here.