Source: People.com

Early this morning, Kerry Washington took the stage with Jimmy Kimmel (who was wearing pajamas!) to announce the nominees of the 64th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards and a there are some notable brown faces among the nods.

Idris Elba received a Lead Actor In A Miniseries Or A Movie nod for playing John Luther in the BBC miniseries “Luther”. That miniseries is up for an award of its own in the Best Miniseries or Movie category. Don Cheadle was nominated for Lead Actor In A Comedy Series for his character Marty Kaan on Showtime’s “House of Lies”. Giancarlo Esposito is nominated for Supporting Actor In A Drama Series for his role in “Breaking Bad”. Maya Rudolph is nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series for her hosting gig on “SNL.” Loretta Devine was nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Adele Webber on “Grey’s Anatomy”.

Tracy Morgan plays in “30 Rock” and that show picked up a nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series. Also, Cee-Lo Green is a judge on “The Voice” and that show reportedly took American Idol’s spot as it was nominated for Best Competition Reality Show for the first time. Among other categories, The Daily Show picked up a nomination for Outstanding Writing For A Variety Series and Wyatt Cenac is a writer on that show.

Of course you can’t talk about who was nominated without noting who was not nominated.

Despite mostly rave reviews and predictions otherwise, neither ”Scandal” nor its castmembers received nominations this year. The reasoning is unclear. It would be easy to say “Oh it debuted in April and only had seven episodes”, but Shonda Rhimes’ other show “Grey’s Anatomy” first season debuted in March and only had 9 episodes yet Sandra Oh was nominated and the show itself received three nominations that year. Besides, cable shows get nominated regularly even though they may only about produce six to ten shows (compared to maybe 20 for a broadcast network). In addition, it obviously was eligible because ABC was definitely campaigning for Scandal to get a nomination this year, but it didn’t happen. Maybe next year.

Regina King – who famously declared the Emmys were “White As Ever” in 2010 – was snubbed against this year after many thought she’d be nominated for for her role in  ”Southland”.

“Mad Men,” earned a leading 17 Emmy nominations. The miniseries “American Horror Story,” received a matching 17 award nominations. “Downton Abbey,” earned 16 bids. “Hatfields & McCoys,” also earned 16 and “Hemingway & Gellhorn” was nominated for 15. ”Modern Family,” honored as best comedy series for the past two years, was the sitcom leader with 14 bids.

You can see the whole list here

What do you think of this years nominees? Who do you think will win?

Follow Alissa on Twitter @AlissaInPink

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If you hadn’t heard, PETA was trying to bring a lawsuit against SeaWorld, claiming that their treatment of the whales was similar to being held and treated as slaves. Yup, you read that right. Slaves. But why are we not surprised? This is not the first time PETA has done something outrageous and dare I say, random, to make their point.

Their defense was that the 13th amendment also covers animal rights. The same 13th Amendment that allowed for the ending of slavery in our country and for African Americans to be seen as people and not property.

Wyatt Cenac (remember him from Medicine for Melancholy?) mocked the lawsuit on last Wednesday night’s episode of The Daily Show in an interview with PETA’s Senior Vice President of Communications, Lisa Lange. You can tell throughout the interview, Lange was taking it seriously, even after Cenac bought up these questions:

“I mean, it’s not like you’re just exploiting the history of the enslavement of black people in this country for publicity, right?”

There was a pause by Lange, and she never really answered the question.

But civil rights activist, Elaine Brown, did, and she wasn’t having any of that. “It’s a cruel and racist joke. If there is animal cruelty than it needs to be checked, but animal cruelty does not rise to slavery.”

PETA filed the lawsuit on behalf of the five orcas at SeaWorld in the fall through the U.S. district in San Diego. They felt that the whales “were forcibly taken from their families and natural habitats, are held captive at SeaWorld San Diego and SeaWorld Orlando, denied everything that is natural to them, subjected to artificial insemination or sperm collection to breed performers for Defendants’ shows, and forced to perform, all for Defendants’ profit. As such, Plaintiffs are held in slavery and involuntary servitude.”

The lawsuit was thrown out on Feb. 8 by U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey Miller. As shown in the video, the PETA spokesperson still believes this was a landmark case and hopes this could be bring more cases to court. Delusional or passionate?  You can decide.

Animals are amazing creatures and should never be abused, but was this taking it too far? To compare trained killer whales in SeaWorld to slavery? Of course it was. To some, in fact, many animals are in better shape at zoos or parks, rather than out in the wild because they’re most likely to be killed by hunters and poachers. At least SeaWorld can give them a safe home and allow a great learning tool for children.

At the end of the day, can these organizations stop comparing everything to slavery? It diminishes and tries to make a mockery of what actually happened in history with foolish incidents like this. Not cool, not thought provoking. Just disrespectful.

*Opening photo by io9.com.

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Wyatt Cenac, a correspondent on “The Daily Show”, also played the male lead in the movie “Medicine for Melancholy”. Now he’s starring in his own stand up special called “Wyatt Cenac: A Comedy Person” on Comedy Central. (The special will air tonight at 11 pm EST.)

Recently he sat down with  AOL’s Black Voices to discuss his particular style of comedy and why he doesn’t feel he should be defined as just a black comedian. He says his comedy transcends those barriers.

Check out the interview here.

And while you’re over there be sure to watch the Slim Thug video…too funny!