I May Destroy Youhas been honored with a Peabody Award.
Peabody Awards
Newton also thanked Coel, 33, directly: “I want to say thank you. All survivors have benefited so much from your piece, we are not alone, and you showed us that our stories truly matter.”
Accepting the honor, Coel thanked Newton for “reading Peabody’s letter so beautifully” and for “sharing her own powerful words.”
“This is very strange and I’m very grateful to Peabody for choosingI May Destroy Youas their winner,” she continued. “It feels like I made this show and I worked on it for three years to sort of try to engage with a trauma that was very personal to me, and I didn’t expect that as I took the step to represent myself on screen, that I would also be representing the lives of so many people.”
“Those are what made this experience most overwhelming, and I’m very grateful for all of these awards. I think the real trophy that I have on my imaginary mantel piece are the words and exchanges that I’ve had with people in the street, the tears and hugs and laughs that I’ve shared with complete strangers over the show.”
Natalie Seery/HBO
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Coel previouslyopened up about the inspirationbehindI May Destroy You, which explores a journey of personal identity while also tackling the subject of consent, as well as what happens to someone after they are sexually assaulted.
The traumatic experience is one Coel knows all too well: The main character Arabella’s arc is loosely based on her own life after she was raped in 2016.
“I’m wanting the audience to think and actually think beyond the act of rape,” Coel told PEOPLE last year. “As you go forward in this series, you’ll realize there is a lot more going on. I’m just constantly asking the audience to have introspection to think and try being curious beyond our own understanding.”
Remaining Peabody Awards are set to be presented virtually on Wednesday and Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. PT.
source: people.com
