Sabrina Carpenter has won her first Primetime Emmy after The Muppet Show special took home the award for Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded).
Carpenter won the award as an executive producer and performer of the Disney+ special, which marked the 50th anniversary of the beloved television series that originally ran from 1976 to 1981.
The award was presented on Saturday, September 5, during the first night of the 2026 Primetime Emmy Awards ceremonies, formerly known as the Creative Arts Emmys.
The Muppet Show beat Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour | The Final Show, Dave Chappelle: The Unstoppable…, Nikki Glaser: Good Girl and Wicked: One Wonderful Night in the category.
The victory marks the second time Carpenter has beaten Taylor Swift for an award on the path toward EGOT status.
In February 2025, Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet won Best Pop Vocal Album at the Grammy Awards, beating Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department. Carpenter also won Best Pop Solo Performance for “Espresso” that night.
Carpenter is now halfway to achieving EGOT status, having secured Emmy and Grammy wins.
Swift is also halfway to EGOT status after winning a juried Primetime Emmy in 2015 for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media for AMEX Unstaged: Taylor Swift Experience, on which she served as artist and executive producer.
The Muppet Show had a strong night overall, winning three additional awards for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special, Outstanding Production Design for a Variety Special and Outstanding Picture Editing for a Variety Program.
Only three programmes collected more awards than The Muppet Show on the first night of the 2026 Primetime Emmys.
The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny led with seven awards, followed by The Traitorswith six and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert with five.
Carpenter was among several executive producers recognised for The Muppet Show, alongside Seth Rogen, David Lightbody, Leigh Slaughter, Michael Steinbach, Evan Goldberg, James Weaver, Alex McAtee, Matt Vogel, Eric Jacobson, Albertina Rizzo and Alex Timbers.
Ryan Janata won as co-executive producer, while Dani Iglesias was recognised as producer.
The special has one remaining nomination on the second night of the Primetime Emmys on Sunday, September 6, with Matt Vogel nominated for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance for his portrayal of Kermit the Frog.
A total of 49 categories were presented on Saturday, with another 53 scheduled for Sunday. Only 19 categories will be presented during the live Emmy telecast on Monday, September 14.
The 78th Emmy Awards ceremony, hosted by Mariska Hargitay, will air live on NBC from the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live and stream on Peacock.
Erizia Rubyjeana
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