Waleed Aly Has Defied The Haters To Win His First Gold Logie
"Do not adjust your sets"
Waleed Aly from The Project has defied the haters to win his first Gold Logie. Attending only his second TV Week Logie Awards, Aly beat out his The Project co-host and last year’s Gold Logie winner Carrie Bickmore, as well as Lee Lin Chin, Essie Davis, Scott Cam and Grant Deneyer for Best Personality on Australian TV.
“Do not adjust your sets,” Aly joked. “There’s nothing wrong with the picture. I’m sure there’s an Instagram filter you can use to return things to normal, you’ll be fine. This is happening. It’s true. Finally a male presenter on commercial TV has won the Gold Logie.”
As much as I would have loved to won the Logie, I would have never been as articulate as him. Australian TV needs more of you.
— Lee Lin Chin (@LeeLinChinSBS) May 8, 2016
Look out. Waleed Aly won the Gold Logie. The apocalypse is coming, I tells ya, it’s coming!!
— Rohan Connolly (@rohan_connolly) May 8, 2016
Aly also relayed a story about a colleague named Mustafa who had to use a pseudonym because he wouldn’t get a job. “He’s here tonight and it matters to people like him that I’m here.”
I can’t believe #AndrewBolt’s real name is Mustafa.#TVWEEKLogies — Steele Saunders (@SteeleSaunders) May 8, 2016
It was Aly’s second win for the night, taking out the Silver Logie for Best Presenter, ahead of Bickmore, Chin, Amanda Keller and Denyer. The Silver Logie winners were Alex Dimitriades from The Principal and Deborah Mailman from Redfern Now. “Redfern Now, for three seasons, has been about integrity and empowerment of indigenous storytelling,” she said.
Fuck yes, Waleed Aly! Doing it for us with unpronounceable names #Logies
— Tali Aualiitia (@taliaualiitia) May 8, 2016
Final #Logies2016 thought: Waleed Aly winning tonight shows us the inclusive, insightful, open country Australia can be. Let’s make it so.??
— I H Laking (@IHLaking) May 8, 2016
Earlier in the night, Noni Hazlehurst was honoured for a remarkable 40-year career, including a long-running stint on Play School from 1978 to 2002. As only the second women ever to be inducted into the Logie Hall of Fame in its 32-year history (the other was Ruth Cracknell in 2001), Hazlehurst called out the “odious” critics of Gold Logie nominees Aly and Chin in an impassioned and inspiring acceptance speech.
>>> CLICK HERE FOR THE BEST BITS OF NONI’S SPEECH
“The fact that I’m only the second woman to be given this honour is merely a reflection of the prevailing zeitgeist,” she told the crowd. “Things are clearly changing … but they’re changing glacially slowly.”
Other winners on the night included Gogglebox for, um, Best Factual Program; Tim Minchin for Most Outstanding Supporting Actor for The Secret River; The ABC’s Glitch for Most Outstanding Drama Series; and Gruen for Most Outstanding Entertainment Program.
Sarah Ferguson’s three-part documentary on the Kevin Rudd/Julia Gillard government, The Killing Season, won Most Outstanding Public Affairs Report.
Check back into Junkee for more Logies coverage tomorrow.