EXCLUSIVE: One of the more intriguing Emmy battles this year is Beyoncé going head-to-head with Saturday Night Live’s celeb-filled 50th anniversary special.
Netflix’s Beyoncé Bowl and SNL 50: The Anniversary are battling each other in the Outstanding Variety Special (Live) category.
The TV Academy had originally scheduled this award to be handed out at the second night of the Creative Arts Emmys but Deadline understands that it has now be move to the main primetime show, which will take place on Sunday September 14 at the Peacock Theater in LA and air on CBS.
A TV Academy spokesman confirmed the move. The motives for the move are not entirely clear, but it’s likely an opportunity to get Beyoncé to the awards. The pop star has never attended the Emmys, despite having been nominated before.
These shows will also go up against The Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show Starring Kendrick Lamar and The Oscars. The latter won the award last year, beating Usher’s Super Bowl halftime show, The Grammys, Netflix’s The Greatest Roast of All Time: Tom Brady and the Tonys.
The category is wide open; the Super Bowl halftime show won the award in 2022 when it featured Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar and 50 Cent and SNL’s birthday celebrations featured more former stars and A-list celebrities that could fit in Studio 8H.
Saturday Night Live is hoping for a strong showing at this year’s awards after scoring its most ever Emmy nominations ever with 31 nominations across its main show and various birthday celebrations. This included seven for Saturday Night Live’s 50th including Bowen Yang in Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, as well as 12 nominations for SNL50: The Anniversary Special and six for SNL50: The Anniversary Special. It also scored two for Questlove’s Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music and three for SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night Live as well as one for an immersive special.
It will also go head-to-head, once again, against Last Week Tonight with John Oliver in the Outstanding Scripted Variety Series category, which has its own special voting rules given the number of nominees.
Beyoncé has previously been nominated for her Lemonade special in 2016, which lost out to The Late Late Show Carpool Karaoke Prime Time Special in the Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special category, and her Homecoming documentary in the Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded) in 2019.
