The actress said the award nod would’ve given The Clark sisters the “shine” they deserve.

When The Clark Sisters: The First Ladies of Gospel aired on Lifetime back in April, Black Twitter had predicted another Emmy nomination for Aunjanue Ellis. She transformed into the stern matriarch and uncompromising choral director Dr. Mattie Moss Clark. And she helped the movie network earn its highest-rated original movie in four years.

So when the 2020 Emmy nominations were announced last month, fans were left scratching their heads because Ellis’s performance was overlooked. Ellis, who was nominated for her role in When They See Us back in 2019, spoke to ESSENCE exclusively about being left out of the nominations.

“First of all before I say anything, let me send a huge congratulations to everybody who was nominated. Congratulations to them. I’m happy for them. I never want somebody else’s joy to be my unhappiness. That’s awful. I just want to be clear about that,” Ellis says during a Zoom call.