It’s hard to believe that 1999 was 20 years ago. As a gay kid growing up in the 90’s it’s a painful reminder of how much older I am and how long ago so many incredible things happened personally and in the world.
1999 brought us a phenomenal year in movies, television and music for our community as the fight for our acceptance continued to grow.
The world of music included a ton of gay favorite songs, television gave us the beginnings of Will & Grace and Queer as Folk and movies like Trick are now seen as an instant classic.
1999 also gave us the arguably greatest awards show moment ever that many remember regardless if we watched this particular kind of event or what our sexuality was and is.
Susan Lucci, who has been a fierce supporter of the LGBTQ community for years, made millions of people scream, cry and cheer after she won the Daytime Emmy Award for Best Actress after 19 nominations in May of 1999.
Susan’s losing streak was what ultimately helped her become the most legendary soap opera actress of all time. Her performance as Erica Kane on ABC’s All My Children earned her 18 nominations and losses over the course of her then 29-year career on the soap series.
Her losses were parodied in commercials and during her hosting gig on Saturday Night Live up until her triumphant win.
Shemar Moore was the one to present her the Emmy, where he legendarily screamed the words “THE STREAK IS OVER! SUSAN LUCCI” after opening her winning envelope.
From there it was absolute chaos in the room as everyone from Kelly Ripa to Rosie O’Donnell wept with emotion as Susan took to the stage.
Susan’s speech took a bit to start due to the crowd’s minutes long standing ovation. Oprah Winfrey was also seen backstage ecstatically applauding for Susan.
Her speech was perfectly executed, as it’s something she more than likely prepared in her head for several years. “I truly never believed that this would happen,” she joked.
From then she thanked the fans, her husband, kids and AMC team for the moment. It’s something that this writer can watch repeatedly and never get tired of.
This post was created by one of our Contributing Writers and does not reflect the opinion of Instinct Magazine or the other Contributing Writers when it comes to this subject.