Sabrina Carpenter Wins Her First Primetime Emmy for The Muppet Show Special
Sabrina Carpenter won her first Primetime Emmy on Saturday, September 5, during night one of the Creative Arts Emmys, as an executive producer and performer of the Disney+ special The Muppet Show. The special, which commemorated the 50th anniversary of the original TV series' debut, won the award for outstanding variety special (pre-recorded), beating a field that included Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour | The Final Show (Disney+), Dave Chappelle's The Unstoppable... (Netflix), Nikki Glaser's Good Girl (Hulu), and Wicked: One Wonderful Night (NBC) (Billboard).
This is the second time Carpenter has bested Swift for a major award. In February 2025, Carpenter's album Short n' Sweet won the Grammy for best pop vocal album over Swift's The Tortured Poets Department. Swift herself holds a 2015 juried Emmy for outstanding creative achievement in interactive media, credited to her role as artist and executive producer of the AMEX Unstaged: Taylor Swift Experience (Billboard).
With the Grammy already on her shelf, Carpenter's Emmy win puts her halfway to EGOT status — the informal designation for someone who has won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony (Gold Derby). She is 26.
The Muppet Show was a dominant force on night one. Beyond the top variety special prize, the special won for outstanding writing, outstanding production design, and outstanding picture editing for a variety program. Seth Rogen shared the outstanding variety special win as a fellow executive producer, alongside a long list of credited producers including Evan Goldberg, James Weaver, Alex McAtee, Matt Vogel, Eric Jacobson, Albertina Rizzo, Alex Timbers, David Lightbody, Leigh Slaughter and Michael Steinbach (Billboard).
The special has one more nomination pending: Matt Vogel is up for outstanding character voice-over performance for his work as Kermit the Frog, to be decided at night two of the Creative Arts Emmys on September 6 (Billboard).
Night one of the Creative Arts Emmys covered 49 categories. The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show starring Bad Bunny led the field with seven wins, followed by The Traitors with six and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert with five. A further 53 categories are set for night two, with 19 more reserved for the live Emmy telecast on Monday, September 14, hosted by Mariska Hargitay from the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live on NBC and Peacock (Billboard).
The Creative Arts ceremonies themselves are not telecast live. Highlights are scheduled to air on Saturday, September 12 at 8 p.m. PT on FXX and stream on Hulu the following day (Billboard).
For Carpenter, the win extends a career arc that has moved from Disney Channel sitcoms to chart-topping pop stardom and now to television's highest honour — all before her 27th birthday.
