D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai Makes Political Statement About Murdered Native Women At First Emmy Awards

Reservation Dogs star D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai attended his first-ever Emmy Awards on Sunday night, making a big statement to mark the occasion.

Woon-A-Tai, 22, wore an all-black suit and a red handprint painted over his mouth, representing a message of solidarity for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, according to the Native Hope website.

The painted hand “stands for all missing sisters whose voices are not heard. It stands for the silence of the media and law enforcement in the midst of this crisis. It stands for the oppression and subjugation of native women who are now rising up to say #NoMoreStolenSisters,” the website states.

Woon-A-Tai was nominated for his first Emmy Award for Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series for his performance in Reservation Dogs. The series follows a group of Indigenous teenagers in Oklahoma who set their sights on moving to California.

The Bear star Jeremy Allen White took home the award.

In a Variety interview in April, Woon-A-Tai spoke about the effects of the series on his understanding of representation in media.

“Reservation Dogs has taught me how important it is that we are the ones to tell our stories for us. Nobody should tell our stories on our behalf,” he said. “That’s been going on for too long. We’ve had too much misrepresentation because of it. Moving forward, I am very much going to stick with telling Native stories through the Native lens.”