LGBTQ Critics’ Dorian TV Awards: ‘Pose,’ ‘It’s a Sin,’ ‘Hacks’ top winners list

The winners of the Dorian TV Awards, from GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, were announced today where Pose and WandaVision led the nominations with six and five apiece, respectively.

Venerable actress Jean Smart, Saturday Night Live wit Bowen Yang, rising satirist Ziwe, Pose co-creator Steven Canals, teen heartthrob Michael Cimino of Hulu’s Love, Victor, and revered British TV writer Russell T Davies (Queer as Folk, Dr. Who) were some of the notables expressing gratitude in GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics’ Dorians TV Toast 2021, a mix of award reveals, interview segments and entertainment that subscription channels Here TV and YouTube’s PlanetOut broke from custom to air free tonight. Veteran West Coast radio personality and LGBTQ rights activist Karel was the pre-recorded special’s lively host.

Multi-award winning actress Patricia Arquette, Jennifer Beals (currently starring in Showtime’s The L Word: Generation Q), iconic actress-singer Olivia Newton-John, Tituss Burgess (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), The Nanny’s Fran Drescher, rapper and reality star Big Freedia (Big Freedia Bounces Back), SNL cast member Punkie Johnson, Pose costar Leyna Bloom (recently the first transgender woman to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue), Big Sky’s Jesse James Keitel, Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman (of the new Disney+ sitcom update, Doogie Kameāloha, M.D.), ABC entertainment reporter Karl Schmid, actor-comic John Lehr (Hulu’s Quick Draw) and TV icon Jim J. Bullock (Too Close for Comfort) all helped present this latest Dorians program. The awards, voted upon by GALECA’s 320 members in the U.S. and beyond, go to all of film and TV, mainstream to LGBTQ (the film awards are held in spring).

The Society chose the highly emotional final season of FX’s groundbreaking Pose—about an LGBTQ clique navigating AIDS, bigotry and drag-ball culture in ‘80s and then ‘90s New York—as Best TV Drama. This marks the series’ third Dorian win in the category.

Best LGBTQ TV Show went to the HBO Max miniseries It’s a Sin, creator-producer Davies’ not dissimilar tale of a group of London friends also facing the onset of the AIDS crisis. In a special segment in the toast, Davies expressed the wish that people would take all pandemics more seriously. Sin costars Stephen Fry, Callum Scott Howells and Nathaniel Curtis also made appearances.

Smart won Best TV Performance, as did, in a rare tie, Michaela Coel, star-creator of HBO’s semi-autobiographical I May Destroy You. The star’s sly performance in Hacks as a sitcom ingénue turned jaded, if super-rich, standup comic dovetailed with her freshman HBO Max hit’s win for Best TV Comedy. The actress, beloved in series from Designing Women to Legion, made a point to give special thanks to her on-screen foil Hannah Einbinder—who later made a surprise appearance in the virtual toast. 

Destroy, meanwhile, slayed the likes of Marvel’s ambitious superhero fantasy WandaVision and HBO’s Kate Winslet-driven mystery Mare of Easttown to earn Best TV Movie or Miniseries. Accepting on behalf of Destroy’s team was the drama’s Dorian-nominated costar Paapa Essiedu.

In a special segment, fresh comedian Ziwe discussed the impetus behind her Showtime series ZIWE, a topical hybrid of sketch comedy and issue-minded talk shows. The star opened up about her influences and how she hopes to inform and bring disparate sides together via humor.

Yang, who scored big laughs on SNL last season personifying the (somewhat bitter) iceberg that sank the Titanic and helping skewer corporate America’s appropriation of Pride Month, won the Society’s special Wilde Wit accolade, presented by his NBC series costar Punkie Johnson. Yang, who tied in the category with Coel, said he happened to be a major fan of the award’s namesake, Oscar Wilde, so his Dorian Award win felt “a little too on-the-nose.”

Accepting RuPaul’s Drag Race’s Best Reality Show win, season 13 contestant Kade Gottlieb—without the elaborate makeup and glitter of his drag persona Gottmik—attested in a chat to just how wild and real the VH1 phenomenon’s backstage drama is.

Nick Kroll, co-creator and starring voice of Netflix’s animated series Big Mouth, joined trans actress Josie Totah (Saved by the Bell)—who guest-voices as a trans teen on the hit—for a talk about the importance of representation and how “cartoons” can be more unbridled than live-action shows in addressing societal issues.

As previously announced, actress-singer Michaela Jae (Mj) Rodriguez received GALECA’s second-ever LGBTQIA Trailblazer Award “for creating art that inspires empathy, truth and equity.” In her interview segment, Rodriguez, the first transgender actress to be nominated for a leading-actress Emmy (for Pose), embraced her status as a role model. “There’s a generation behind me that needs to know what transness looks like,” she said. “I’m going to keep trying my best and instill hope.”

GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, is comprised of over 300 entertainment journalists in the U.S. and abroad.

The Dorian TV awards will stream live on here.tv, the Revry YouTube channel as well as Planet Out and hosted by Karel.

Here is the full list of nominees with winners as they are announced.

BEST TV DRAMA

Bridgerton
The Crown

Lovecraft Country
P-Valley
Pose – WINNER

BEST TV COMEDY

The Flight Attendant
Girls5eva
Hacks – WINNER
PEN15
Ted Lasso

BEST LGBTQ SHOW

I May Destroy You
It’s a Sin – WINNER
Love, Victor
Pose
Veneno

BEST TV MOVIE OR MINISERIES

I May Destroy You – WINNER
It’s a Sin
Mare of Easttown
Small Axe
The Queen’s Gambit

BEST UNSUNG SHOW

A Black Lady Sketch Show
Girls5eva
Love, Victor – WINNER
Search Party
Veneno
We Are Who We Are

BEST TV PERFORMANCE (tie)

Michaela Coel, I May Destroy You – WINNER
Kaley Cuoco, The Flight Attendant
Thuso Mbedu, The Underground Railroad
Elizabeth Olsen, WandaVision
Billy Porter, Pose
MJ Rodriguez, Pose
Jean Smart, Hacks – WINNER
Jason Sudeikis, Ted Lasso
Anya Taylor-Joy, The Queen’s Gambit
Kate Winslet, Mare of Easttown

BEST SUPPORTING TV PERFORMANCE

Gillian Anderson, The Crown
John Boyega, Small Axe
Pappa Essiedu, I May Destroy You
Kathryn Hahn, WandaVision – WINNER
Marielle Heller, The Queen’s Gambit
Callum Scott Howells, It’s a Sin
Dominique Jackson, Pose
Julianne Nicholson, Mare of Easttown
Jean Smart, Mare of Easttown
Bowen Yang, Saturday Night Live

BEST TV MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

Lady Gaga, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” Biden-Harris Inauguration
Jonathan Groff, “You’ll Be Back,” Hamilton
Kathryn Hahn, “Agatha All Along,” WandaVision – WINNER
Elton John & Years & Years, “It’s a Sin,” BRIT Awards 2021
Punkie Johnson, Anya-Taylor Joy, Lil Nas X, Kate McKinnon, Bowen Yang, “Pride Month Song,” Saturday Night Live
Bowen Yang (as The Iceberg That Sank the Titanic), “Loverboy,” Saturday Night Live

BEST TV DOCUMENTARY OR DOCUMENTARY SERIES

Framing Britney Spears – WINNER
I’ll Be Gone in the Dark
Pretend It’s a City
Pride
Tina

BEST CURRENT AFFAIRS SHOW

Full Frontal with Samantha Bee
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
The Amber Ruffin Show
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Ziwe – WINNER

BEST ANIMATED SHOW

Big Mouth – WINNER
Bob’s Burgers
Harley Quinn
Invincible
South Park: The Pandemic Special

BEST REALITY SHOW

Legendary
Nailed It
Queer Eye
RuPaul’s Drag Race – WINNER
The Great British Bake Off

MOST VISUALLY STRIKING SHOW

Bridgerton
The Crown
Lovecraft Country
Pose
Small Axe
The Mandalorian
WandaVision – WINNER

CAMPIEST TV SHOW

At Home with Amy Sedaris
Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square
Eurovision Song Contest – WINNER
Ratched
WandaVision

WILDE WIT AWARD (tie)
(To a performer, writer or commentator whose observations both challenge and amuse)

Michaela Coel – WINNER
Kathryn Hahn
Fran Lebowitz
Randy Rainbow
Bowen Yang – WINNER