The 2024 Daytime Emmy nominations are in and Days of Our Lives has done pretty darn good for itself with 11 nominations in nearly every category, including Outstanding Drama, Outstanding Drama Writing Team and Outstanding Drama Directing Team! (You can see the full list of nominations here.) But one nomination that was very conspicuously absent? Susan Seaforth Hayes’ performance for Salem’s beloved Julie Williams.
A show rep confirms that she did submit herself for a nomination which, frankly, makes the lack of one shocking. Hayes turned in an incredible performance as Julie said goodbye to Doug and navigated crushing grief. And it’s a snub that the fans have been speaking up about on social media. Heck even folks who don’t watch Days of Our Lives are up in arms over it!
And Cherie Jimenez (Gabi) went to bat for their “Queen Susan Hayes,” tweeting congratulations to all the “incredibly talented women who are nominated,” but “I find it incredibly hard to believe that our Queen Susan Hayes was not nominated for her incredible performances this past year.”
It didn’t take long for Hayes herself to speak up with a message on Instagram that personified, as Greg Rikaart (Leo) put it in the comments how the actress is truly “just the classiest of class acts, Susan. And the true definition of a winner.”
In her statement, Hayes wrote that, “For everyone who was upset by the Emmy nominations, I am amazed and moved that so many cared that deeply about Susan Hayes and Julie, her other self.
She went on to share her history with the Emmys, from attending the first one, hosting it, receiving a Lifetime Achievement award and receiving nominations for different categories as Julie’s role in the show changed over the years. And, as she says, in all that time, she’s been in thousands and thousands of episodes of Days of Our Lives since she first joined in 1968.
“I feel that’s pretty great,” she noted, “and I’ll be 82 tomorrow.” (Which is now today, so Happiest of Birthdays to Susan Hayes!) “I was lucky to meet the love of my life in full view of a daytime audience,” she continued. “We caught their imaginations for a long, fulfilling time. Then faded into grandparents, then a dear, sweet couple, then we were parted… not by a change of writers, but death itself. Only a widow with memories remains.”
But, she added, “Is she ‘entertaining?’ This is not the usual path of a soap opera leading lady. In that story of loss, I was more than an actress, I was a wife. My husband deserved all I could give to show the reality of grief and loss. Perhaps the judges felt I wasn’t acting when for the camera, I got the news, kissed the body goodbye, and gave the eulogy. No matter, my truth was based on a love that was real for an audience that loved him, too.”
You can read her full, beautiful statement below, just be sure to click through the arrows to read all the slides.
Whatever our feelings about the lack of a nomination, no one can argue that Hayes isn’t an amazing woman, a hugely talented actress and gave a beautiful, heartfelt and heartbreaking performance. And neither she, nor Julie are going anywhere. As she concluded, “I am hugely blessed and promise you all I will keep on keeping on.”
