Liv Hewson, 27, the nonbinary actor who plays young Van Palmer in Showtime’s Yellowjackets, announced that they are withdrawing their submission for the Primetime Emmy Awards Ceremony in a recent interview with Variety. Hewson was originally set to campaign for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, but pulled their submission simply because there are no non-gendered category nonbinary actors.
“There’s no place for me in the acting categories,” Hewson said. “It would be inaccurate for me to submit myself as an actress. It neither makes sense for me to be lumped in with the boys. It’s quite straightforward and not that loaded. I can’t submit myself for this because there’s no space for me.”
Hewson had top surgery in between filming the first and second season of Yellowjackets. Their coworkers, who are said to be incredibly encouraging, are supporting Hewson as they discuss their decision to withdraw. It’s got us all thinking: maybe it’s time for award ceremonies to update their programming.
“It’s worth talking about,” Hewson stated. “And I very gently and respectfully ask that people get their gears turning a little.”
At the end of March, Yellowjacket’s Emmy campaigns were announced, with plenty of hopefuls in the hit Showtime series. Actresses Sophie Nélisse, Melanie Lynskey, Tawny Cypress and Juliette Lewis are campaigning for Lead Actress in a Drama award. Cristinia Ricci is once again seeking a nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama for her role as Misty. A variety of other supporting actors were going for noms as well– including Lauren Ambrose, who plays the adult version of Van Palmer, Liv Hewson’s character.
Hewson, along with several LGBTQ activists, believe that the performance arts awards should not be gendered. Especially when non-acting awards, like Outstanding Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Original Song are not awarded through gendered categories.
“There is an implied fatalism there, which suggests that we’ve all agreed that equality is impossible. And that’s sad,” said Hewson. “We’re not going to start awarding ‘Best Female and Male Director,’ or ‘Female or Male Cinematographer’ because we all understand that implicitly would be insulting. You can keep things as they are right now — I just won’t be participating.”
Top photo from the Season 2 trailer of ‘Yellowjackets’ by Showtime
