Gillian Anderson’s American accent at Emmys shocks the internet

After her successful appearance at yesterday’s Emmys, one big question about Gillian Anderson has the internet stumped.

I guess these folks never heard of a little TV show called The X-Files, back in the day?

Gillian Anderson has confused the bloody hell out of Emmys 2021 viewers — by delivering her acceptance speech with her native American accent.

The actress — who won Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series for her performance as Margaret Thatcher in The Crown — has spent the better part of two decades playing roles primarily with a British accent.

After a string of high-profile roles playing British, Anderson accepted yesterday’s Emmy in her native American accent. Picture: Gareth Cattermole/Getty

However, Anderson, 53, was actually born in Chicago and spent her childhood split between Puerto Rico and London before moving back to her Illinois, US homeland at 11.

After her 11-season run as Agent Dana Scully on The X-Files opposite David Duchovny’s Agent Fox Mulder, she relocated full time to London and played a string of Brits in highbrow projects such as Bleak House, The Fall and more recently Sex Education.

She played British as Margaret Thatcher in The Crown …

… and again in Sex Education.

So, when the actress dedicated her Emmy to her agent of 20 years, Connie Freiberg, people couldn’t understand where her posh Queen’s English had disappeared to — and the Twitter reactions were fast and furious:

Forever rocked and shocked that Gillian Anderson is not British

— chawner laughs (@appehmichael) September 20, 2021

My brain just refuses to accept that Gillian Anderson isn’t British

— Sophie Thompson (@sophxthompson) September 19, 2021

IS GILLIAN ANDERSON NOT REALLY BRITISH??? IM LOSING MY MIND

— sam 🌹 (@RIETVELDSKAZ) September 20, 2021

i really feel like gillian anderson should be british but she just ISNT

— skye the anti (@pcttons) September 20, 2021

it's been said before but the fact that gillian anderson isn't british makes no sense

— raphael (@raphaeldbarros) September 20, 2021

i still can't believe gillian anderson isn't british every time i hear her natural accent i think she's putting it on

— georgie (@liamxonnor) September 20, 2021

each time i remember gillian anderson is american it shocks me more than the last

— julia (@S0UNDOFMETAL) September 20, 2021

Meanwhile, some fans tried to explain this consciousness-altering pop culture moment to the social media masses.

“She’s multi-bidialectal,” one fan explained using a possibly made up term. “Sometimes she has an American accent and sometimes English.”

Of course, Anderson — who previously won an Emmy in 1997 for The X-Files and scored her sixth career nom as Maggie T — has much more important issues on her mind of late. She recently announced she has abandoned brassieres.

“I don’t wear a bra anymore. I can’t wear a bra. I’m sorry,” Anderson explained in an Instagram Live video earlier this summer. “I don’t care if my breasts reach my belly button. I’m not wearing a bra, it’s just too f**king uncomfortable.”

Meanwhile, this isn’t the first time her accent has thrown awards season viewers for a loop. When the two-time BAFTA (that’s British for Oscars) nominee picked up her Golden Globe for her The Crown role in March, her American accent was equally shocking.

“Just had my mind blown discovering @GillianA doesn’t actually have an English accent in real life,” wrote one fan of the Chicago native, with another adding, “I feel so uncomfortable knowing Gillian Anderson is American and not British.”

This story originally appeared on Page Six and is republished here with permission

Originally published as Gillian Anderson’s American accent at Emmys shocks the internet