Former President Barack Obama won his third Primetime Emmy on Sunday, taking the award for Outstanding Narrator at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards for his narration of the Netflix natural-history series Our Oceans.
The win extends a run of Emmy recognition for Obama’s post-presidential media projects and places the former president among a small group of political figures who have received high-profile cultural honors.
Newsweek reached out to Obama’s office for comment via email outside normal working hours.
Why It Matters
Obama’s third Emmy underscores how former U.S. presidents can remain influential cultural figures after leaving office, leveraging production partnerships and streaming platforms to reach wide audiences.
What To Know
Obama beat off stiff competition from the likes of David Attenborough and Tom Hanks to win the Outstanding Narrator prize for his narration of the five-part Netflix series Our Oceans, which examines marine life across the world’s oceans. He was not in attendance to receive the award.
The former president previously won the Outstanding Narrator Emmy for the Netflix-produced series Our Great National Parks (2022) and for the documentary series Working: What We Do All Day (2023), both projects produced in partnership with Higher Ground, the production company he co-founded.
The Creative Arts portion of the Emmys honors a wide range of behind-the-scenes and specialty categories that precede the main Primetime Emmy broadcast. Other winners on Sunday night included Kendrick Lamar, the Oscars telecast, and 11 awards for the SNL 50 anniversary special.
In addition to his trio of Primetime Emmys, Obama’s already substantial metaphorical trophy shelf includes two Children’s and Family Emmy gongs, two Grammy awards, and a Nobel Peace Prize.
President Donald Trump, who covets the illustrious Nobel and has questioned why Obama got one, is unlikely to welcome his political rival’s latest achievement; the former star of The Apprentice has been nominated twice but never won an Emmy.
Trump in 2012 posted on the social-media platform then known as Twitter that the Emmys had “no credibility” after The Amazing Race won its 14th award. In another post moments later, the then future president wrote: “The Emmys are all politics, that’s why, despite nominations, The Apprentice never won–even though it should have many times over.”
Other high-profile political figures to have won cultural prizes like an Emmy include former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter—who each scored multiple Grammy wins—and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who also has a Grammy. Trump, meanwhile, is the only U.S. president in history to win a Razzie, a parody award handed out to the worst films and performances each year.
What Happens Next
Obama’s Emmy for Our Oceans consolidates his credentials in high-profile documentary and nonfiction work and may increase visibility and demand for similar projects produced by Higher Ground and Netflix.
The 77th Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony will broadcast on September 14.
Still up for grabs is the chance to be the first president to win an Oscar.
This article contains reporting by The Associated Press.
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