TV

Aziz Ansari Wins Peabody Award, Talks Diversity And Thanks Them For Not “Fucking Up”

"You guys actually watched all our shit, and decided it was good!"

by Sinead Stubbins  23 May 2016

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The Peabody Awards are rare in that they actually recognise TV shows and films that the public/internet also deems exceptional. Last year, John Oliver and Amy Schumer were among the winners (remember Schumer and Tina Fey making out? Good times.) and this year, internet favourites Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang were recognised by the prestigious body for their work on Master of None.

Ansari used the opportunity to talk about diversity in TV and basically, why other awards shows kind of suck. “Thank you to the Peabodys, it really is a special honour, because, let’s be honest, so many award shows fuck up!” he said.

“They don’t give people awards that should probably get awards. And the Peabody is great because it seems like you guys actually watched all our shit, and decided it was good! There was no schmoozing, no weird-ass dinners.”

Ansari also shouted out his real-life parents, who also play his parents on the show, and thanked Netflix for letting him tell his own story. “I think they really seem to get what diversity really is. It’s not, “Hey, let’s give this white protagonist a brown friend!” No. It’s “Let’s have a show where there’s a token white guy’,” he said.

Jon Stewart also received an award for his work on The Daily Show, and for some reason turned his speech into a eulogy of himself. “I think we all miss Jon Stewart and I think we see, I think we see from that eulogy what a wonderful man he was,” he said, soberly. “I hope someday I get to meet him, because he seems like a hell of a guy.”

David Letterman also won an award, which was presented by Steve Martin. Every funny old guy in Hollywood was there!

Among the other winners were Jessica Jones, Mr. Robot, The Jinx, Black-ish and Transparent, so yes Aziz Ansari is right, the Peabody Awards definitely do not fuck up these things.