Keke Palmer has broken through the game show host boys’ club by winning the Emmy for Outstanding Host for a Game Show for NBC’s Password.
This is the first time that the category has been part of the Primetime Emmys after moving from the Daytime awards.
On Sunday, Keke Palmer beat Jeopardy!’s hosts Ken Jennings and Mayim Bialik, Family Feud’s Steve Harvey and Wheel of Fortune’s Pat Sajak.
Palmer becomes the first woman to win the award since 2009 when Meredith Vieira won for the syndicated run of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? She is also the first Black woman to be nominated or win the category.
It also marks the first time in 50 years that a Password host has been nominated or won the category.
Harvey won last year and Alex Trebek won the three years prior to that.
“Wow. That is so exciting thank you so much. I’m really just so thankful, I’m almost speechless. I want to thank the people who allowed this to happen, thank you to Jimmy Fallon, thank to NBC,” she said during her acceptance speech tonight at the Peacock Theater in downtown L.A.
Keke Palmer also thanked Carol Burnett, who was in the audience.
It is not Palmer’s first Emmy. She picked up the award for Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series for Facebook Watch series Turnt Up With The Taylors in 2021.
Password is exec produced by Jimmy Fallon, who was up for a separate game show Emmy for That’s My Jam. However, that NBC series lost out to Jeopardy! in the Outstanding Game Show category, taking the quizzer’s win streak to four in a row.
“Sharp, charming and quick witted all while looking like a superstar. There’s no one like Keke Palmer,” said Fallon.
“In a historic year for game shows at the Emmy Awards, we couldn’t be prouder of Keke Palmer’s outstanding host win. She and Jimmy Fallon are a winning duo and have made the latest iteration of Password an undeniable hit,” added Corie Henson, EVP, NBCUniversal Entertainment Unscripted Programming.