Michael Keaton Got Bleeped For Saying This During His First Emmy Win Speech

At the 2022 Emmy Awards, Michael Keaton took home his first Emmy for lead actor in a limited or anthology series for his very personal work in the miniseries "Dopesick." In his acceptance speech, he took the time to recognize the people who helped him along the way while also dropping a humorous line that made him the first person of the night to get briefly bleeped on the broadcast.

"My folks weren't exactly patrons of the arts," he said, recalling his upbringing and his first encounters with TV as a kid. "We weren't patrons of anything, frankly. But I want to thank them. I just want to thank all those people in my family for never making me feel foolish, because I went on to do that several times myself. That's the thing about feeling foolish and making a fool of yourself and making mistakes, there's huge power and merit in that. I'm glad I made a fool of myself over and over and over again."

Keaton also took a moment to thank the people in his life who have supported him — and gently rib those who maybe not have had as much faith in him, too.

"Over the years we've all been through a lot of tough times. There have been some doubters. I've had some doubters. You know what? We're cool," he joked. "But I also had those people for all these years when times were rough who were the true believers."

The last moments of his speech were the ones bleeped out, but the broadcast didn't cut away from a relatively close shot on his face, making it fairly clear what he was saying.

"I f*cking love you!" he said, finishing his speech with one more tribute to the "true believers." We'd definitely say that kind of enthusiasm and gratitude is something worth getting bleeped for!

The 74th annual primetime Emmy Awards are airing live on NBC on Sept. 12.