LGBTQ+ entertainment critics announce 2021 Dorian TV award winners with Pose, It’s A Sin, Drag Race, Framing Britney Spears, & I May Destroy You all recognized & Mj Rodriguez honored as a Trailblazer

GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics announced the winners of their Dorian TV Awards during tonight’s Dorians TV Toast 2021 on Here TV and PlanetOut’s YouTube channel, hosted by radio personality and LGBTQ activist Karel.

For the third time, FX’s groundbreaking series Pose took the society’s award for Best TV Drama, while Best LGBTQ TV Show went to the HBO Max/Channel 4 co-production miniseries It’s a Sin, with writer Russell T Davies and cast members including Stephen Fry, Callum Scott Howells, and Nathaniel Curtis all making appearances during the awards special.

RuPaul’s Drag Race season 13 breakout star Kade Gottlieb, aka Gottmik, was on hand to accept the award for Best Reality Show on behalf of the series.

In a tie, both HBO’s Hacks star Jean Smart and Michaela Coel, actor-creator of HBO’s I May Destroy You, took this year’s Best TV Performance GALECA honors. While accepting her award, Smart made a point to give special thanks to her on-screen foil Hannah Einbinder, who later made a surprise appearance in the virtual toast. While Coel’s I May Destroy You also took the Dorian for Best TV Movie or Miniseries. Accepting on behalf of Destroy’s team was the drama’s Dorian-nominated co-star Paapa Essiedu.

The New York Times’ Samantha Stark—director and a producer of the Dorian-winning Best TV Documentary or Documentary Series Framing Britney Spears—spoke about the LGBTQ+ community’s love and support for the pop star. The Disney+ show WandaVision’s three wins—Most Visually Striking TV Show, Best Supporting TV Performance (Kathryn Hahn), and Best TV Musical Performance—were revealed by comic John Lehr in the guise of MSNBC’s fast-talking polling expert Steve Kornacki.

Love, Victor star Michael Cimino accepted the Dorian for Best Unsung TV Show for the LGBTQ+ Hulu series, while Nick Kroll, co-creator and voice star of Netflix’s Dorian-winning animated series Big Mouth was joined by Josie Totah, who guest-voices a trans teen character on the hit show, to highlight the importance of representation and the unique way that animated series address societal issues.

Throughout the starry show there were appearances from Oscar-winner Patricia Arquette, GLAAD Media Award-winner Jennifer Beals, the legendary Emmy and Grammy-winning Grease star Olivia Newton-John presented the Campiest TV Show to the Eurovision Song Contest—John placed fourth in the 1974 edition of the competition, losing out to ABBA—Tituss Burgess, Fran Drescher, the Queen of Bounce herself Big Freedia, SNL‘s Punkie Johnson and Bowen Yang, Port Authority star Leyna Bloom, Pose co-creator Steven Canals, and comedian Ziwe.

The night’s biggest honor went to Pose star and singer-songwriter Michaela Jae (Mj) Rodriguez who received GALECA’s LGBTQIA+ Trailblazer Award “for creating art that inspires empathy, truth, and equity.” During an interview segment conducted by GALECA’s Tariq Raouf, Rodriguez said, “There’s a generation behind me that needs to know what transness looks like. I’m going to keep trying my best and instill hope.”

COMPLETE LIST OF 2021 DORIAN TV AWARD NOMINATIONS – winners marked with *

BEST TV DRAMA:

Bridgerton

The Crown

Lovecraft Country

P-Valley

* Pose (FX) *

BEST TV COMEDY:

The Flight Attendant


Girls5eva

* Hacks (HBO Max)

PEN15

Ted Lasso

BEST LGBTQ SHOW


I May Destroy You

* It’s A Sin (HBO Max)*

Love, Victor 

Pose

Veneno

BEST TV MOVIE OR MINISERIES:

*I May Destroy You (HBO)*

It’s a Sin

Mare of Easttown 

Small Axe

The Queen’s Gambit

BEST UNSUNG SHOW:

A Black Lady Sketch 

Show
Girls5eva

* Love, Victor (Hulu)*

Search Party

Veneno 

We Are Who We Are

BEST TV PERFORMANCE (TIE):

*Michaela Coel, I May Destroy You (HBO)*

Kaley Cuoco, The Flight Attendant

Thuso Mbedu, The Underground Railroad

Elisabeth Olson, WandaVision

Billy Porter, Pose

MJ Rodriguez, Pose

* Jean Smart, Hacks
(HBO Max)

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

Paapa Essiedu, I May Destroy You

* Kathryn Hahn, WandaVision
 (Disney+)

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 and singers, “Agatha All Along,” WandaVision (Disney+)

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:

* The New York Times Presents: Framing Britney Spears (FX)

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 (Showtime)

BEST ANIMATED SHOW:

* Big Mouth (Netflix)

Bob’s Burgers

Harley Quinn

Invincible

South Park: The Pandemic Special

BEST REALITY SHOW:

Legendary

Nailed It

Queer Eye

* RuPaul’s Drag Race (VH1)

The Great British Bake Off

MOST VISUALLY STRIKING SHOW:

Bridgerton

The Crown

Lovecraft Country

Pose

Small Axe

The Mandalorian

* WandaVision (Disney+)

CAMPIEST TV SHOW:

At Home with Amy Sedaris

Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square

* Eurovision Song Contest (Peacock)

Ratched

WandaVision

WILDE WIT AWARD (TIE):

To a performer, writer or commentator whose observations both challenge and amuse

* Michaela Coel


Kathryn Hahn

Fran Lebowitz

Randy Rainbow

* Bowen Yang

GALECA LGBTQIA+ TRAILBLAZER AWARD
For creating art that inspires empathy, truth and equity

Michaela Jaé Rodriguez

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 Dorians TV Toast 2021 was produced by Karel Media and Brandon Riley Miller Productions with GALECA, with Karel and John Griffiths serving as Executive Producers. For more on GALECA and its Dorian Awards head to GALECA.org and DoriansToast.com. Follow @DorianAwards on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Watch the full Dorians TV Toast 2021:

Watch the Dorians TV Toast 2021 Winners accompanied by the sound of Flickering Light performed by Morgan Mallory, an original song about the power of TV, co-written by Mallory and Dorians Toast host Karel: