Former President Obama Receives Emmy Nomination, As Does Dave Chappelle

Former President Barack Obama has just received his first Emmy nomination. The nomination is in the Outstanding Narrator category for the 74^th Primetime Emmy Awards. Obama was nominated for his narration of Our Great National Parks on Netflix.

Obama narrated five episodes of just over 50 minutes each. The nature documentary series features national parks around the world and is set to breathtaking cinematography.

Obama Will Be Up Against:

• Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for Black Patriots: Heroes of the Civil War
• David Attenborough for The Mating Game: In Plain Sight
• W. Kamau Bell for We Need to Talk About Cosby
• Lupita Nyong’o for Serengeti II

Obama has previously won two Grammy Awards for Best Spoken Word Album. The first was in 2006 for Dreams from My Father and the second was in 2008 for The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream.

In other Emmy Nominee News, Dave Chappelle’s comedy special, The Closer, has also received not one, but two Emmy nominations. The nominations come on the heels of backlash over worry that the show was transphobic. That backlash actually led to a corporate culture shift within Netflix after staff spoke up against the program.

Chappelle’s The Closer has been nominated for the Pre-Recorded Variety Special category and the Directing for a Variety Special category. Specifically, director Stan Lathan was nominated for directing The Closer.

Other nominees for the Pre-Recorded Variety Special category are:

• Adele: One Night Only on CBS
• Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts on HBO Max
• Norm Macdonald: Nothing Special on Netflix
• One Last Time: An Evening with Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga on CBS

The other nominees for the Directing for a Variety Special category are:

• Paul Dugdale for Adele: One Night Only
• Bo Burnham for Jerrod Carmichael: Rothaniel
• Norm Macdonald and Jeff Tomsic for Norm Macdonald: Nothing Special
• Hamish Hamilton for The Pepsi Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show

The 74^th Primetime Emmy Award Show will air September 12 at 5 P.M. PDT on CBS.