Ayo Edebiri 'Absolutely Freaked Out' When Meeting Reba McEntire on Emmys 2024 Red Carpet Staff, 9/16/2024 Ayo Edebiri had a memorable fangirl moment at the 2024 Emmys, meeting country legend Reba McEntire. After expressing her excitement, Edebiri humorously shared a lyric from McEntire's iconic theme song, highlighting her admiration. This event marks Edebiri's second appearance at the Emmys following an earlier win. Alex Ross is a Writer-Reporter on the Entertainment team at PEOPLE. She previously worked at E! News and the Today show and is a Boston University graduate.
Ayo Edebiri had a total fangirl moment while on the red carpet for the 2024 Emmys.
The Bear star, who was nominated for outstanding lead actress in a comedy series, ran into country music legend Reba McEntire ahead of the awards ceremony. She told E! News' red carpet host Laverne Cox during their pre-show that she "absolutely freaked out."
"I really, really am proud of myself for not singing the entire theme song," said Edebiri, referring to McEntire's famous song "I'm A Survivor" which served as the tune for her eponymous sitcom that ran for six seasons.
Still, Edebiri couldn't help but break out the lyric eventually.
"A single mom that works too hard, who loves her kids and never stops!" she said. "Hey, I'm a survivor, okay?"
This marks Edebiri's second Emmy Awards ceremony of the year. In January, she won big when she won outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series for the first season of The Bear.
"This is a show about found family and real family, and my parents are here tonight," she said in her speech. "I'm making them sit kind of far away from me because I'm a bad kid. But I love you so much. Thank you so much for loving me and letting me feel beautiful and Black and proud of all of that. I just love you so much."
This time, Edebiri was nominated in the lead category. Hacks star Jean Smart took home the award.
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"We've got a great ensemble with the same producers, showrunner and writers as we had with the Reba show, and it's a great script," McEntire told PEOPLE in May, confirming she will, of course, be recording the show's theme song.
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See PEOPLE's full coverage of the 76th annual Primetime Emmy Awards as they're broadcasting live on ABC from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.
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