Niecy Nash-Betts finally wins her Emmy for 'Dahmer' - delivers one of the most compelling speeches ever

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By Nasima Khatun

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Niecy Nash-Betts has finally been honored with an Emmy and delivered one of the best speeches of the night.

Taking to the stage after she was declared the winner for Best Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series for her role in Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story on Monday, the 53-year-old left fans in tears while dedicating her speech to "every Black and brown woman who has gone unheard yet over-policed."

"I'm a winner, baby! Thank you to the most high for this divine moment," she started her speech. "Thank you, Ryan Murphy for seeing me. Evan Peters, I love you. Netflix. Every single person who voted for me. Thank you. My better half, who picked me up when I was gutted from this work. Thank you."

The star then credited her "bad self" for her work stating: "I want to thank me. For believing in me and doing what they said I could not do. I want to say to myself in front of all you beautiful people, go, girl, with your bad self. You did that."

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Niecy Nash Betts won her first Emmy on Monday. Credit: Christopher Polk/Variety/Getty

Lastly, in a powerful message, she noted that she was accepting the award "on behalf of every Black and Brown woman who has gone unheard yet over-policed, like Glenda Cleveland [who Nash-Betts played in Dahmer], like Sandra Bland, like Breonna Taylor. As an artist, my job is to speak truth to power, and baby, I’m going to do it until the day I die."

Before leaving the stage, the actress also yelled out to her mom who was sitting watching in the crowd saying: "Mama, I won!"

Have a look at the moment below:

Hundreds of fans took to Twitter, better known now as X, to rave about the actress's win.

"SPEECH OF THE NIGHT. And will be one of my fave speeches EVER, NIECY F****** NASH BETTS!!!!!!" wrote one user while another added: "I need Niecy Nash-Betts acceptance speech read to me every single morning!!!!"

Others also stated that she deserved another Emmy for her Emmy speech - we agree!

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Niecy Nash-Betts and Evan Peters both starred in Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. Credit: Natasha Campos/Getty/Netflix

Backstage, Nash-Betts delved further into the importance of her speech especially when it comes to knowing your own worth.

"I’m the only one who knows what it cost me. I’m the only one who knows how many nights I cried because I couldn’t be seen for a certain type of role. I’m the one who knows what it was like to go through divorce on camera and still have to pull up and show out, and you have children and a whole life," she said.

She continued: "I’m proud of myself, I’m proud that I did something people said I could not do because I believed in me. And sometimes people don’t believe in themselves, and I hope my speech was a delicious invitation for people to do just that.

"Believe in yourself and congratulate yourself. Sometimes you’ve got to encourage what? Yourself. And that’s why it’s not called mama-esteem, them-esteem, us-esteem, it’s called self-esteem because nobody got to believe it but you," she added, drawing another roaring round of applause from the room.

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Niecy Nash-Betts's powerful speech was a hit with fans. Credit: Gilbert Flores/Variety/Getty

The win marked Nash-Betts' first-ever Primetime Emmy win after earning five nominations at the award show throughout her career.

Featured Image Credit: Gilbert Flores/Variety/Getty