Diondre Jones for Jones’n Photography(NEW YORK) — September could be a life-changing month for Melvin Jackson Jr. and his wife, Kelly Jernette, who are both nominated for Emmys.
Jackson Jr. is nominated in the category of Outstanding Actor in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series for his web series This Eddie Murphy Role Is Mine Not Yours, while Jernette received an Emmy nod for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Annie in The Handmaid’s Tale.
Because the two are the first African-American couple to earn Emmy nods in the same year, they’ll make history if they both end up winning.
Jackson Jr. recalls the moment when he first learned they’d been nominated.
“I was at work, actually,” Jackson Jr. tells ABC Radio. “I was looking on the computer and I saw that the nominees and I went online and I was like, “Wow.”
After getting over the initial shock, Melvin says he had an important call to make.
“I first had called my wife, because I saw she was nominated,” he continues, “So I said, ‘And you’re nominated.’ She said… ‘What about you?’ And she looked and she said, ‘You’re nominated as well.'”
That’s when the news finally sank in, says Melvin: “So it was just a crazy moment to both share that moment and it was just like still kind of, you know, surreal like I have those ‘ahhhh’ moments for a minute.”
The 70th Primetime Emmy Awards will be held Monday, September 17 at 8 p.m. ET at LA’s Microsoft Theater and broadcast live on NBC.
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