Kate McKinnon calls last season of SNL the 'most meaningful thing I've ever done' during Emmy speech
Kate McKinnon was tearing up before she even made it to the stage to accept her second consecutive Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her work on Saturday Night Live. “Being part of this season of Saturday Night Live was the most meaningful thing that I will ever do,” she said of the politically-charged 42nd season of the iconic series. She played Hillary Clinton in SNL’s 2016 election coverage — most memorably delivering a heartbreaking rendition of “Hallelujah” the week that Clinton lost the election and the world lost Leonard Cohen — and concluded her acceptance speech with, “On a very personal note, I want to thank Hillary Clinton for your grace and grit.”
Kate McKinnon took home the award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Sunday night at the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards.
The Saturday Night Live star was nominated for the fourth time this year and won for the second time. “Yikes,” she said upon boarding the stage to accept the trophy. “Thank you so much. Being part of this season of Saturday Night Live was the most meaningful thing that I will ever do. So I should probably stop now.”
She went on to thank the SNL cast and crew, including writers and frequent collaborators Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider, before shouting out Hillary Clinton, who she impersonates on the NBC show. “On a very personal note,” McKinnon said, “I want to thank Hillary Clinton for your grace and grit.”
Other nominees in the category were McKinnon’s Saturday Night Live costars Vanessa Bayer and Leslie Jones along with Anna Chlumsky of Veep and Transparent‘s Kathryn Hahn and Judith Light.
View the full Emmys 2017 winners list here.