Anthony Bourdain Honored With Six Posthumous Emmys

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Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown Wins 6 Emmys

Three short months after his tragic passing, Anthony Bourdain has been honored with six Emmy wins at this year’s Creative Arts Emmys, both for his CNN series Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown and its digital spinoff.

The series, which was up for six awards, took home a win for every single one including best informational series or special, writing for non-fiction program, picture editing for a non-fiction program, sound editing for a non-fiction program and sound mixing for a non-fiction program. Bourdain himself was personally the recipient of two of the Emmys, both for writing and informational series or special.

The late host also won an additional Emmy for best short-form non-fiction or reality for his series Anthony Bourdain: Explore Parts Unknown. These posthumous Emmys add to the four that Bourdain already won in past years.

Bourdain’s co-workers repeatedly honored him in their acceptance speeches, with Explore Parts Unknown executive producer Nathan Thornburgh saying backstage that public support has been key in getting through the days after his suicide. “The one thing about this loss is it’s not ours alone, like everybody knew that guy,” Thornburgh said. “Everybody had a selfie with him, but more importantly I think everyone felt like he had spoken to them over the years and that’s helped a lot, to feel like we’re not alone.”

When she was accepting the non-fiction writing Emmy on his behalf, producer Lydia Tenaglia noted, “Tony was nominated for this Emmy many times, but it had always eluded him. So it is with tremendous bittersweetness that I accept it on his behalf.” Bourdain was previously recognized in the category a whopping eight times.

Anthony Bourdain died by suicide on June 8 while in France working on an upcoming episode of his award-winning CNN series.