Jesse Armstrong delivers the acceptance speech for 'Succession' at the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards with the rest of the cast and crew

‘Succession’ Showrunner Throws Shade at King Charles III in Emmy Acceptance Speech

Watch what Jesse Armstrong said in his acceptance speech for 'Succession' and find out how Twitter and the audience reacted.

by Rachel Hunt

Published on September 13, 2022

2 min read

‘Succession’ Emmy acceptance speech for Outstanding Drama Series 2022

For the night’s final award, Selma Blair presented the Emmy award for Outstanding Drama Series. HBO’s Succession won for the second time (previously won in 2020). They beat Better Call Saul, Euphoria, Ozark, Severance, Squid Game, Stranger Things, and Yellowjackets. Then the ensemble cast, including Sarah Snook, Jeremy Strong, Matthew Macfadyen, Nicholas Braun, and the crew took the stage to accept the award. However, it didn’t start how anyone expected.

“Big week for successions,” Armstrong began. “New king in the U.K., this for us. Evidently a little bit more voting in our winning than Prince Charles.”

It was a combination of laughs and gasps from the crowd. When Queen Elizabeth II died on Sept. 8, Prince Charles became the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom.

“Keep it royalist, keep it royalist,” commented Brian Cox, who plays the show’s patriarch, Logan Roy.

Cox tried to encourage Armstrong to stop there, but the showrunner continued.

“No, I mean, I’m not saying we’re more legitimate in our position than he is, we’ll leave that to other people,” Armstrong continued.

Then the laughs came from the cast and the audience.

“Delicate balance,” Cox added.

The showrunner continued the acceptance speech for Succession by thanking everyone he could.

“We are incredibly grateful to have this,” Armstrong continued. “It’s a wonderful honour, this group is extraordinary. It’s a team effort starting with the engine room of the writers room, the producers who support us, the directors led by Mark Mylod, the extraordinary cast who we’re surrounded by who are, oh my goodness, and our amazing crew and HBO who protect and support us. So many thanks.”

Twitter blew up over ‘Succession’ acceptance speech for Outstanding Drama Series

The comments on Twitter ranged from calling the Succession acceptance speech at the Emmys “cringe,” “tasteless,” and “awkward” to “tacky and distasteful.”

“The Succession acceptance speech… somehow became the cringiest part of the night lol,” one journalist Tweeted.

It was almost like Armstrong became a character in his show for a moment — Roman Roy (Kieran Culkin). He always says the most inappropriate things at the absolute worst times.