Teddy Perkins from 'Atlanta' was at the Emmys and what even is reality anymore?
Blink, and you missed the most distressing/hilarious moment to happen at the 70th Annual Emmy Award nominations.
After Bill Hader won best lead actor in a comedy series for Barry, the camera panned over the other nominees. And instead of showing Atlanta's creator, writer, co-director, and creator, it briefly captured what appeared to be a horrifying white man in an elegant bathrobe.
And no, your eyes did not deceive you. And no, you are not hallucinating. But yes, we might all be haunted after tonight. Because that was Teddy fucking Perkins himself, clapping lightly in a front row seat at the Emmys.
We repeat: Teddy Perkins hugged Bill Hader after he won over Donald Glover for lead actor in a comedy.
Right now, you might be asking: Who in God's name is Teddy Perkins? Yeah, even us in the know have the same question. But allow us to shatter your innocent reality by introducing you to the Joker-like pasty-faced cautionary tale of an Atlanta character.
The Emmy-nominated episode by the same name tells the sad and disturbing story of a reclusive music legend who bares many parallels to Michael Jackson. Taking a tonal curve into straight-up horror, the story follows one of Earn's (Donald Glover) friends, Darius (Lakeith Stanfield), as he attempts to purchase a piano he found online.
Unbeknownst to him, he's purchasing it from Teddy Perkins.
The transaction doesn't go as smoothly as hoped. Darius instead taken through a haunted funhouse of Teddy Perkins' traumatically dysfunctional existence -- and that's before Teddy's brother shows up, claiming to have been held captive.
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It was one of the most disturbing, evocative 44 minutes of television to ever air. And only after it aired did we learn the reality-shattering fact that the unrecognizable Teddy Perkins had actually been played by Donald Glover himself.
Now back to the Emmys mystery haunting as all.
At first, we were all tempted to assume Glover was pulling another fast one on us as a practical joke/performative art piece, by coming dressed to the awards show as Teddy Perkins. That might help explain his conspicuous absence from the red carpet. As the two-time Emmy winning creator of Atlanta, a show nominated for five awards this year alone, it was odd to not see him in any of the pre-Emmy red carpet interviews.
So that's gotta be him dressed as Perkins, right?
Nope. Not so far. Just when we thought we had either Teddy Perkins or Glover figured out, he pulled the rug out from under us yet again.
Because several moments later, in a brief shot of the row of the Insecure stars, there was Glover, plain as day, in all his non-Perkins-prosthetic handsomeness.
So who the ever living fuck was that guy? Was it one of the other cast members of Atlanta – perhaps Stanfield? A stand-in sitting in Glover's seat? Is the camera guy questioning reality as much as we are?
WILL WE EVER KNOW THE ANSWER? Maybe not.
Glover has been purposefully mysterious about Teddy Perkins since the character's inception. While shooting, not even Lakeith Stanfield (who plays Darius) knew that he'd been acting opposite the creator of the show the entire time. Glover went full method during filming, having everyone, including Atlanta co-director Hiro Murai, address him as Teddy on set.
We might get more clues to this unsettling puzzle as the show continues. But we can almost certainly confirm that Teddy Perkins is in attendance at the Emmys -- we think?
Who the hell even knows anymore. What is reality. What is life. Send help.
Jess is an LA-based culture critic who covers intimacy in the digital age, from sex and relationship to weed and all media (tv, games, film, the web). Previously associate editor at Kill Screen, you can also find her words on Vice, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, Vox, and others. She is a Brazilian-Swiss American immigrant with a love for all things weird and magical.
