John Mulaney got all the way to DJ Khaled’s name before television viewers lost the rest of the sentence.
The comedian was presenting Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series at the 78th Emmy Awards on September 14 when his elaborate bit about men took an explicit turn. The NBC broadcast muted part of the joke, leaving viewers to wonder what had disappeared after “I believe it was DJ Khaled who said,” as Just Jared reported.
The missing line was, “real men don’t go down on their wives,” a reference to DJ Khaled’s old comments about refusing to perform oral sex on his partner. Mulaney immediately rejected the idea, telling the nominees that they knew it was “B.S.” and joking that there was often less pressure on them if they did it first.
It was not a random detour inserted into an otherwise ordinary category introduction. Mulaney had already spent several minutes turning the male acting prize into a mock celebration of masculinity, taking shots at Method acting, actors who leave when the camera turns away from them and even the dad from Bluey.
The Bleep Came Right After DJ Khaled’s Name
LOL this whole bit from John Mulaney was so good. I need him to host the Emmys next year
“Some of the men in this category do method acting, and some do regular, less annoying acting…”
“I believe it was DJ Khaled who said ‘real men don’t go down on their wives,’ but these… pic.twitter.com/Gv708ngVnz
— Spencer Althouse (@SpencerAlthouse) September 15, 2026
Mulaney began by calling Lead Actor in a Drama the “best part of the night” because it was finally something “for the guys.” He then sarcastically claimed that men had historically been underrepresented on television and introduced the five nominees as a collection of decidedly serious leading men.
The acting jokes came next. Mulaney said some nominees used Method acting while others relied on “regular, less annoying acting,” then teased actors for learning their sides that morning and occasionally leaving set once another performer was receiving camera coverage.
Then came Khaled. Entertainment Weekly confirmed the uncensored wording and noted the reaction inside the Peacock Theater: Sterling K. Brown laughed, Mark Ruffalo visibly approved of Mulaney’s rebuttal and Noah Wyle’s wife, Sara Wells, hid behind Wyle while laughing.
The DJ Khaled Reference Goes Back More Than a Decade
The source of the joke was an old appearance by Khaled on Power 105.1’s The Breakfast Club. In the interview, he said he would not perform oral sex on a woman while arguing that different standards applied to men and women.
Khaled described himself as “the king” and said he showed appreciation for his partner in other ways, including providing financially. When host Angela Yee pressed him on whether he would accept the same refusal from a woman, his answer was no.
Mulaney Kept the ‘Man’s Man’ Bit Going After the Sex Joke
The censored line was only one piece of the routine. Mulaney also brought a copy of Frank Vincent and Steven Prigge’s A Guy’s Guide to Being a Man’s Man onstage, saying he had borrowed it from the Glendale Public Library.
He read a passage arguing that expensive clothes, wine and company do not make someone a real man’s man if he fails to treat the people around him with respect and class. The book, written by the actor known for tough-guy roles in Goodfellas and The Sopranos, made an appropriately odd closing text for a speech that had spent several minutes making fun of macho performance.
The Television Academy has since posted Mulaney’s complete presenting segment on its official site, preserving the routine separately from the live NBC broadcast.
Noah Wyle Had to Follow All of That With an Acceptance Speech
After Mulaney finally reached the nominees, the category returned to its intended purpose. Sterling K. Brown was nominated for Paradise, Gary Oldman for Slow Horses, Mark Ruffalo for Task, Rufus Sewell for The Diplomat and Noah Wyle for The Pitt.
Wyle won, giving him his second consecutive Emmy for playing Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch. He had already taken the same Lead Actor in a Drama Series award for The Pitt in 2025. The Television Academy’s official database now lists Wyle with 10 career Emmy nominations and two wins, both for The Pitt.