American actor, singer and activist, Sheryl Lee Ralph, was visibly shaken when her name was called as winner of the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for Abbott Elementary.
The audience rose to its feet as Ralph took to the stage to accept the award.
There were no regrets with this standing ovation as Ralph began her speech by singing the affirmation song Endangered Species by Dianne Reeves.
"I am an endangered species, but I sing no victim song," she sang.
"I am a woman, I am an artist and I know where my voice belongs."
Ralph then gave a rousing and inspiring acceptance speech.
"Anyone who has ever, ever had a dream and thought your dream wasn't, wouldn't, couldn't come true," she said.
"I am here to tell you that this is what believing looks like.
"This is what striving looks like.
"And don't you ever, ever give up on you, because if you get a [writer, producer and Abbott Elementary creator] Quinta Brunson in your corner, if you get a husband like mine in your corner, if you get children like mine in your corner, and if you've got friends like everybody who voted for me, cheered for me, loved me, thank you, thank you, thank you."
Ralph beat out co-star Janelle James who was also nominated for Abbott Elementary.
The other nominees were Hannah Einbinder who was nominated for Hacks, Kate McKinnon for Saturday Night Live, Alex Borstein, for The Marvellous Mrs Maisel, and Ted Lasso's Sarah Niles, Juno Temple and Hannah Waddingham.
Earlier, host Kenan Thompson said Abbott Elementary was donating its Emmys marketing budget to public school teachers.
The mockumentary is about a group of passionate teachers and a slightly tone-deaf principal in a Philadelphia public school who have the odds stacked against them but are determined to help their students succeed at life.
The Abbott Elementary pilot written by Quinta Brunson also won for Best Writing for a Comedy Series.
The camera panned to a stunned Lizzo who looked on in awe after Ralph's speech.
The pop star later got up to accept an award herself for Best Reality Competition Program – Watch Out for the Big Grrrls.
"When I was a little girl," she said while overcome with emotion.
"All I wanted to see was me in the media.
"Someone fat like me, black like me, beautiful like me.
"If I could go back and tell a little Lizzo something I'd be like, 'you're gonna see that person but the b***h is gonna have to be you'."
From a couple of inspiring speeches to an awkward one from Jennifer Coolidge, who won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series for White Lotus.
She thanked her supporters in her trademark breathy voice, which she blamed on a lavender bath she took earlier in the day that made her bloat in her dress.
When the play-off music attempted to cut short her acceptance speech, she danced to the tune, delighting the audience as she shimmied away.
Ted Lasso's Jason Sudeikis took to the stage to Salt-N-Pepa's Whatta Man when he picked up the award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.
Expressing surprise and saying he was "flattered" to receive the award, Sudeikis seemingly didn't prepare an acceptance speech, despite multiple nominations for Ted Lasso, which also won Best Comedy.
Zendaya won for Best Actress in a Drama Series for her role in the teen coming-of-age series Euphoria.
"Thanks for making such a safe space to make this very difficult show," she said.
"My greatest wish for Euphoria was that it could help heal people.
"Thank you for everyone who has shared your story with me. I carry them with me".
Lee Jung-jae of Squid Game won Best Actor in a Drama Series, beating Jason Bateman (Ozark), Brian Cox and Jeremy Strong (Succession), Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul) and Adam Scott (Severance).
Succession won the final award of the night for Best Drama Series with the showrunner Jesse Armstrong taking a dig at King Charles.
"Big week for Succession," he said.
"New King in the UK, at least for us. Evidently a bit more voting in our winning than Prince Charles".
Succession star Brian Cox told him to "keep it royalist" with Armstrong going on to say "I'm not saying we're more legitimate in our position than he is."
The Breaking Bad prequel Better Call Saul went home empty-handed.
