Image Awards host Anthony Anderson, best known in the United Kingdom for his Transformers role as Glen Whitmann, kicked off the ceremony by pretending to be former N.W.A. member, Ice Cube.
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The “Empire” star tore it up accepting her award for outstanding actress in a drama series.
Despite the heated talk about racial diversity in Hollywood following the Academy Awards’ mostly white array of nominees for the second year in a row, organizers of the NAACP Image Awards expect energy, not preoccupation at Friday’s ceremony honouring people of colour in entertainment.
Creed was the clear victor, taking home wins for best actor (Michael B. Jordan), Best Director (Ryan Coogler), Best Supporting Actress (Phylicia Rashad), and Best Writing. “We’ve been here for years”.
Actress Aunjanue Ellis used the red carpet at the NAACP Image Awards on Friday to take a political stand, wearing a dress emblazoned with the phrase “Take It Down Mississippi”.
The legendary rapper and actor was present to support his son who won the Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture award for his performance in Straight Outta Compton, which also won the award for Outstanding Motion Picture.
John Legend received the NAACP President’s Award, which recognizes those who have achieved career success and public service.
All the attendees and winners weighed in on the diversity issue in their own words and a lot of them appreciated NAACP Image awards for supporting Hollywood’s diversity. It’s interesting to see that Will and Jada will be at the awards show, as they recently made a decision to boycott this year’s Academy Awards after it was revealed that no actor of color was nominated in any of the 20 acting awards. In his speech, the singer-songwriter lauded activists who fight for social justice. With that in mind, the NAACP Awards have become the epitome of excellence for people of color working in all mediums.
Can we take a moment to appreciate the beauty that is Taraji P. Henson? And like most award ceremonies, following along on Twitter was as much fun as watching the show.
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