Paul Walter Hauser Takes A Victory Rap As He Accepts Emmy For ‘Black Bird’

“Thank you to the voters in the TV academy, thank you mom and dad, you nurtured what I had in me. Dennis Lehane, Taron Egerton, your talent can move boulders. If I look tall it’s cause I’m standing on both of their shoulders,” rapped out Paul Walter Hauser starting one of the most unusual Emmy acceptance speeches of the night for Black Bird.

He’s taking home the award for Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Or Anthology Series or Movie for his super creepy great nuanced performance as serial killer Larry Hall on the Apple TV+ show. Also unconventional, Hauser was crunching on something in his seat when they called his name and still chewing when he took the stage.

It was his first Emmy nom and win for Hauser, who nabbed a Golden Globe for the role last week, and a SAG nomination as well as the 2023 Critics Choice Award.

Hall is a doughy, mutton-chopped convicted serial killer and rapist accused of murdering 14 women. In the six-part series, prosecutors offer Taron Egerton’s James Keane – a drug dealer serving ten years — a commuted sentence if he’s able befriend Hall and extract a confession. Bestselling author Lehane based the skein on Keane’s autobiographical novel In with the Devil: A Fallen Hero, a Serial Killer, and a Dangerous Bargain.

Hauser’s has a brilliant run playing real-life troubled characters, acclaimed for a breakout role in Clint Eastwood’s 2019 film Richard Jewell, taking the Hollywood Critics Association Game Changer Award and the Breakthrough Performance Award from the National Board of Review.

In I, Tonya (2017) he played Shawn Eckardt, a bumbling bodyguard who helped Tonya Harding kneecap her rival Nancy Kerrigan at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

Other credits include Apple TV+’s Afterparty, SXSW-premiering dark comedy Americana, and Apple Original Films upcoming heist pic The Instigators directed by Doug Liman with Matt Damon and Casey Affleck.