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Courtesy of People
Publish 09/23/2019
By BWSTimes Staff
Actor Jharrel Jerome, best known for his roles in Moonlight and When They See Us, won the primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie.
Upon his win, Jerome said, “I feel like I should just be in the Bronx right now, chillin’, waiting for my mom’s cooking, but I’m here.”
Jerome continued his speech by praising the legendary Ava DuVernay who directed the film, and the Exonerated Five amid a standing ovation.
Backstage he expressed: “I think our strongest stories are the stories of pain considering that’s what we go through on a regular basis … I think the truth is our pain needs to be told,” the award-winning actor said to Essences.
In the film, Jerome played the role of Korey Wise. Wise spent 14 years incarcerated for a crime he did not commit, maintaining his innocence from 1989 to his exoneration in 2002.
Raymond, Kevin, Korey, Yusef, and Antron were all convicted of crimes they did not commit, which inspired DuVernay’s masterpiece.
Jerome recalls his first encounter with Wise, “The first time I met Korey, he took off the chain around his neck and put it on my neck and said, ‘You’re the king now. You’re Korey Wise’”.
