GLAAD Recognizes Fox Series for Outstanding Portrayals of LGBT Characters
21st Century Fox Social Impact
The LGBT advocacy organization GLAAD has announced the nominees for the 27th Annual GLAAD Media Awards, honoring media projects for their fair, accurate, and inclusive representation of the LGBT community and the issues that affect their lives. Empire, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Modern Family, all from 21st Century Fox businesses, were among the nominees. The GLAAD Media Awards will be held on April 2, 2016 in Los Angeles and May 14, 2016 in New York.
"For nearly three decades, the GLAAD Media Awards have propelled inclusion in media and driven LGBT acceptance forward," said GLAAD CEO & President Sarah Kate Ellis. "This year's nominees have raised the bar for creating thoughtful and diverse LGBT images and storylines, deepening audiences' understanding of LGBT people and accelerating acceptance across the world."
Empire received its first nomination in the Outstanding Drama Series category this year, while Modern Family, produced by Twentieth Century Fox Television, and FOX's Brooklyn Nine-Nine received their seventh and third nominations respectively for Outstanding Comedy Series. Fox has historically had a large presence at the GLAAD Media Awards, with Modern Family and Glee each winning twice before, and Glee receiving the Special Recognition Award at last year's ceremony for its legacy of activism in the LGBT community and for "consistently introducing groundbreaking LGBT characters and storylines."
GLAAD also commended the FOX network in its most recent Network Responsibility Report, which assesses the quantity, quality, and diversity of LGBT representation on television. In the report, released September 2015, FOX became the first major broadcast network in history to receive an "Excellent" grade, the report's highest rating. The network also had the highest percentage of LGBT-inclusive original programming hours of all channels tracked, coming in at 45.4%. This is the highest percentage GLAAD has charted on a broadcast network since the NRI's inception.
