On Sunday, Sept. 9, critically-acclaimed and multi-talented John Legend, best known for his singing and songwriting, made history. Legend was presented with an Emmy for his part in producing and acting in “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert,” at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards. This award made Legend the first black man to reach EGOT status and he tied with Robert Lopez as being the youngest to receive this recognition. EGOT status means that John has now been awarded an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony. Legend now shares this status with talents such as Audrey Hepburn and Whoopi Goldberg.

Some of John Legend’s most popular songs are, “All of Me,” “Love me Now,” and “Made to Love,” just to name a few. His works in the movie industry include soundtrack work on “Django Unchained” and “Beauty and the Beast.” He was also an executive producer of the 2016 hit movie, “La La Land.” Legend’s talent is unparalleled at this point in the industry, as he became just one of 15 people with EGOT status.

This is a major accomplishment for not only Legend, but for the entire black community. Prestigious awards for music and cinema have only in recent years begun to truly recognize black actors, music artists, producers etc. Since 2016, prominent black actors and directors including Spike Lee and Will and Jada Smith, have been boycotting the Oscars because of their failure to recognize and award black artists and actors. Although, Whoopi Goldberg is another prominent black actor and producer that has received her EGOT status. Hopefully, moving forward from this major step for the black community, more black actors and artists will be fully recognized for their true talent and success, because I think we all can agree “Get Out” wasn’t funny enough to be in the comedy category for the 2017 Oscars.

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