--- title: Viola Davis Didn't Want to Win an Emmy This Year description: Viola Davis had a hilarious (and pragmatic) reason for not wanting to win an Emmy this year and it involves peanut butter and hot flashes. canonical: https://time.com/4505956/viola-davis-emmys-2016/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-23T16:23:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:36:55.849Z og:title: The Funny Reason Why Viola Davis Didn't Want to Win an Emmy og:description: All hail the queen og:url: https://time.com/4505956/viola-davis-emmys-2016/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd6eb7883ff519bf9/6988a74ffb4eac656288f3a2/viola-davis-emmy-win-bullies.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards - Arrivals og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Funny Reason Why Viola Davis Didn't Want to Win an Emmy twitter:description: All hail the queen twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd6eb7883ff519bf9/6988a74ffb4eac656288f3a2/viola-davis-emmy-win-bullies.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Funny Reason Why Viola Davis Didn't Want to Win an Emmy This Year > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Sep 23, 2016 4:23 PM UTC  Viola Davis arrives at the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by John Shearer/WireImage) Viola Davis arrives at the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by John Shearer/WireImage)John Shearer—WireImage  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Sep 23, 2016 4:23 PM UTC [Viola Davis](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2111975%5F2111976%5F2112127,00.html) took home the Emmy for her role as [Annalise Keating on _How to Get Away With Murder_](http://time.com/4463252/heres-who-will-and-should-win-emmys-this-year/) in 2015, but found herself relieved not to win the same honor this year. The reason was both relatable and very, very pragmatic; Davis had eaten one of the [peanut butter sandwiches that Jimmy Kimmel’s mother had made, which the _Stranger Things_ kids had distributed during the show](http://time.com/4498837/emmys-2016-review-recap-jimmy-kimmel/) and subsequently had peanut butter all over her Marchesa gown. Additionally, she was experiencing hot flashes on and off throughout the night, which is hardly an ideal comfort level for delivering an acceptance speech. The interview also gave us a heartwarming look into the actor’s life, where people often conflate her actual person with her fierce characters Annalise Keating and Amanda Waller. “People apparently think I have a hostile face,” she said. “People mistake me for Annalise Keating and Amanda Waller, so I have to smile. I have to _overly_ smile. I have to smile as if I’m doing a _Colgate commercial_ smile.” Watch the full interview below. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4505956/viola-davis-emmys-2016/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4505956/viola-davis-emmys-2016/"},"headline":"The Funny Reason Why Viola Davis Didn't Want to Win an Emmy This Year","datePublished":"2016-09-23T16:23:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:36:55.849Z","description":"All hail the queen","url":"https://time.com/4505956/viola-davis-emmys-2016/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","Television","Jimmy Kimmel","celebrity","Viola Davis","emmys","Culture"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd6eb7883ff519bf9/6988a74ffb4eac656288f3a2/viola-davis-emmy-win-bullies.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd6eb7883ff519bf9/6988a74ffb4eac656288f3a2/viola-davis-emmy-win-bullies.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards - Arrivals","caption":"68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards - Arrivals","creditText":"John Shearer—WireImage","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4505956/viola-davis-emmys-2016/","name":"The Funny Reason Why Viola Davis Didn't Want to Win an Emmy This Year"}}]}] ```