The 19th Annual Webby Awards hosted by Hannibal Buress brought together the biggest stars from the Internet including Jane Metcalfe, Louis Rossetto, Tinder, Pat Quinn (ALS Ice Bucket Challenge co-founder) and Hollywood like Ellie Kemper, Tituss Burgess, Dave Grohl, Chelsea Peretti, Zach Woods and more at Cipriani Wall Street.
House of Cards creator Beau Willimon presented to Monument Valley, the addictive game made famous by the hit Netflix series. Accepting their first Webby Award, Monument Valley tipped their hat to President Francis J. Underwood: “Even the President plays games.”
Leslie Odom Jr., star of the hit Broadway show Hamilton, presented the Webby Award for Best Actor to Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt star Tituss Burgess who used his five-word acceptance speech to send a special message to the creator of 30 Rock: “Happy f***ing birthday Tina Fey.” Burgess’ co-star Ellie Kemper took home the Webby Award for Best Actress and exclaimed, “So Excited! Live streaming my pants!”
Introducing Tinder, the Webby Breakout of the Year, Webby host Hannibal Buress said “Tinder proved that the most important quality in another person is not their personality, it’s their proximity.” In their five-word speech accepting the honor, Tinder said “Thank you for swiping right.”
For the first time, the Webby Awards featured the stories behind the “Webby Fifty,” a select group of Internet visionaries including Vine Co-Founder Rus Yusupov, Cool Hunting Founder and Editor-in-Chief Josh Rubin and Evan Orensten, Refinery29 Co-Founder and Creative Director Piera Gelardi, and Harry’s Co-Founder and Co-CEO Jeff Raider.
The show was presented by Grey Goose, where guests enjoyed specialty crafted cocktails like Le Fizz, Epiphany, and the Martini Exceptionelle.
