#‘Yellowjackets’ Nonbinary Star Liv Hewson on Decision to Not Submit Themselves for Emmys Consideration: “My Issue Is So Structural”

Nonbinary actor Liv Hewson, who stars as teen Vanessa “Van” Palmer in Yellowjackets, is opening up about why they still wouldn’t submit themselves for this year’s Emmy Awards after seeing two nonbinary actors win Tony Awards.

Earlier in June, J. Harrison Ghee and Alex Newell became the first openly nonbinary actors to win at the awards show that recognizes excellence in live Broadway theater. Ghee won the Tony for best lead actor in a musical for their performance in Some Like It Hot. Newell won best featured actor in a musical for their role in Shucked.

“To see and hear nonbinary people on stages like that, talking about themselves, loudly and explicitly and proudly, that’s incredible,” Hewson told Teen Vogue in an interview published online Wednesday. “I love it and I’m all about it.”

But, even after hearing their moving acceptance speeches, Hewson stands by their decision to remove themselves from the Emmys race despite being eligible for their role in the hit Showtime series. “My issue is so structural, I don’t think it would be honest for me to attempt to work within this system,” they explained.

Hewson proceeded to break down their thought process about it all, saying, “Best-case scenario, career-wise, I, hypothetically, would be nominated for an Emmy, which would be an honor. Then the best-case scenario is that I would, hypothetically, win. And then I would go home with a trophy that says ‘actress’ on it. I don’t want that.”

The Dramaworld star also noted that even if they did win and got the opportunity to “talk about being nonbinary with the trophy in my hand, hypothetically, the dynamic at play is still that there’s a category for men and a category for women.” They explained that they have no desire to get onstage with “the best woman award.”

“The bewilderment I have is that acting is the only category that’s separated by sex,” Hewson added. “We take for granted that this is how the world should work, but gender-neutral awards exist in every category but this one. There are multiple ceremonies where they don’t exist at all, so it’s absolutely possible. Isn’t it a little bizarre that there’s one job that’s about men and women and the rest of them aren’t?”

Hewson joins several other actors, including Emma Corrin and Bella Ramsey, who have been open about wanting gender-neutral acting awards.

Although the Emmy Awards haven’t decided to make any changes to its categories, a nominee or winner of any actor/actress category can request for the more gender-neutral title “Performer” to be displayed on their nomination certificate and Emmy statuette.

As for other organizations, the Independent Spirit Awards, Grammys, Gotham Awards, British Independent Film Awards and MTV Movie & TV Awards have already adopted gender-neutral categories.