WHY BOSEMAN GAVE UP HIS MTV AWARD
The Black Panther actor, who picked up the Best Hero trophy at this year’s MTV Movie & TV Awards, decided to dedicate it to a reallife hero. Michael B. Jordan, Chris Pratt, Gal Gadot were also among those honoured at the glittering pre-recorded ceremony.
THE MTV MOVIE & TV Awards gave Black Panther its first taste of awards glory, with Marvel’s blockbuster taking home four honours including two awards for its star, Chadwick Boseman.
Boseman quickly handed off his best hero award to James Shaw Jr., who wrestled an assault-style rifle away from a gunman in a Tennessee Waffle House in April. “This is going to live at your house,” Boseman told Shaw, giving him the show’s golden popcorn award.
The actor said while it was an honour to be recognised for playing a superhero, it was more important to “acknowledge the heroes we have in real life.”
Boseman also won the award for best performance in a movie. Michael B. Jordan, who played the villain in Black Panther, won best villain.
Stranger Things was the top television honoree, winning four awards including a repeat win for best show.
The awards were handed out Saturday and were broadcast on Monday night.
The show is known for bringing fresh talent to light, as well as acknowledging established celebrities in more quirky categories like best kiss and most frightened performance. Host Tiffany Haddish donned a variety of costumes throughout the ceremony, including nods to classic film and TV roles such as Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Starlet from The Carol Burnett Show.
She kicked off the show with a Black Panther skit, foreshadowing the film’s big night, noting in her opening monologue that is it the first African-American film to earn more than $1 billion at the box office. Throughout the night, Haddish also parodied other hit films such as Star Wars: The Last Jedi and A Quiet Place.
Haddish, who also won an award for her breakthrough role in Girls Trip, noted that she is the first black woman to host the awards show, which is in its 27th year.
The comedy Love, Simon won for best kiss for a scene between Nick Robinson and Keiynan Lonsdale.
In addition to winning best show, kids of Stranger Things also won awards for most frightened performance, best musical moment and best performance for Millie Bobby Brown. The actress who couldn’t make it to the event due to a broken kneecap, but she accepted the award for best performance via satellite.
Other winners included Madelaine Petsch as Cheryl Blossom in Riverdale for scene stealer, Gal Gadot for best fight as Wonder Woman and the young cast of It for best onscreen team.
Gaga: Fight Foot Two won the award for best documentary. The Netflix feature followed Lady Gaga during the production of her fifth studio album Joanne.
Common presented Lena Waithe with the trailblazer award for her activism, writing and “deeply honest art.”
During her acceptance speech, Waithe paid tribute to Paris is Burning, the 1990 documentary released about the drag scene in New York during the late 80s. She called those documented, many who aren’t alive anymore, “the bravest human beings that ever lived”
“I’m doing what we as a society should have done a long time ago and give them the glory and shine that they deserve,” she said.
Chris Pratt mixed humour and religious messages while accepting the show’s generation award, telling the crowd to “breathe. If you don’t, you’ll suffocate.”
He also urged fans to “learn to pray” and accept that they are imperfect.
The show featured musical performances by Nick Jonas and Mustard, as well as rising stars and Beyoncé protégés Chloe x Halle.