The Most Truthful Moment of the Emmys

One of the first presenters of last night’s 75th Emmy Awards responded to a standing ovation by gently mocking the audience. As the crowd cheered, the actor Christina Applegate added some wry humor to her expression of gratitude. “Thank you so much. Oh my God, you’re totally shaming me with disability by standing up,” she said. Applegate, who has multiple sclerosis and walked onto the stage with a cane, continued: “It’s fine. Body by Ozempic. Okay, let’s go!” But the audience continued to clap. So the teary-eyed Applegate, who was onstage to present the award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, added another joking admonition: “We don’t have to applaud every time I do something.” Applegate’s heart and humor were a welcome sight. In the years since being diagnosed with MS in 2021, right as she was filming the third and final season of the Netflix series , she’s stayed largely out of the public eye (with the exception of a few appearances tied to the season’s release in late 2022). And Applegate had previously that last year’s Screen Actors Guild Awards would be the final ceremony she attended as an actor. (She arrived at the show sporting a cane with the letters “FU MS” on it.) At the Emmys, where her presence was a surprise to many, Applegate acknowledged the physical and emotional realities of an autoimmune disorder in a room of people whose career sometimes depends on their ability to downplay the .