Chadwick Boseman made history at tonight’s Golden Globes, becoming the first Black actor to win a posthumous Golden Globe. The actor won the award for Best Actor, Motion Picture Drama for his role in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. It was his last role before his death.
His wife, Taylor Simone Ledward, accepted the award on his behalf, giving a moving speech:
“He would’ve thanked God, he would’ve thanked his parents, he would’ve thanked his ancestors for their guidance and their sacrifices. He would’ve thanked his incredible team. Michael Greene, Azeem Chiba, Nicki Fioravante, Evelyn O’Neill, Chris Huvane, and Logan Coles. He would’ve thanked his team on set for this film: Sian Richards, Deidra Dixon, Craig Anthony, and Andrew Carlone. He would say something beautiful; something inspiring, something to amplify that voice inside all of us that tells you you can, that tells you to keep going, that calls you back to what you are meant to be doing. At this moment in history, he would thank Mr. George C. Wolfe, Mr. Denzel Washington, lots of people at Netflix. He would thank Miss Viola Davis, Mr. Glynn Turman, Mr. Michael Potts, Mr. Colman Domingo, Miss Taylour Paige, Mr. Dusan Brown…And I don’t have his words. But we have to take a moment to celebrate those we love so thank you HFPA for this opportunity to do exactly that. And honey, you keep ‘em coming.
This marks Boseman’s first Golden Globe win and he is also considered a major Oscars contender for the role. Check out Ledward’s emotional speech below.
17 Comments
I assume this is there way of trying to make up for Green Book winning a bunch of awards?
What a weird thing to assume.
Well, it would be in keeping for the Golden Globes and the Oscars. A little tokenism so they can say they are “inclusive”, thus hopefully appeasing the rabble, and allowung the status quo to remain largely unchanged. Only they realized they done fucked up with Green Book. So they’re working extra hard for that pat on the back, since they’re starting with a deficit of goodwill this year.
Or, you know, this was their last time to award a great actor in a great role who passed tragically and has nothing to do with Green Book.
Or, you know, it was something convenient for them to hitch their diversity tour wagon to. Or a little of both.
Oh, you’re one of “those” guys.
Lol. I guess so
If someone needs to die in order to achieve it, it’s not the good kind of first.
How does one be the first living black posthumous winner?
That wasn’t the criticism.
I know it’s just the proper way and all that but each of that “would’ve” hits like a hundred jabs in my heart. Hits the same way like the recent Zack Snyder interview where he still fumbles between the present and past tense when talking about his late daughter. Loss has always been hard, but the closer and closer it gets—I lost my dad last year—the heavier these tiny details become, and the deeper you sympathize whenever it pops up.
Fucking great performance, but I’d put his turn in Da 5 Bloods above it. Dude does SO FUCKING MUCH in one two-minute scene.
That would have been a complete joke to reward him for that. He’s barely in the movie and it was nothing that stunning.Chadwick threw it all into his character in Ma Rainey. Whether he was still with us or not, the reward was earned there. Winning for Da Give Bloods would have made it look like he only won because he passed away.
He deserves it for both performances. And an incredibly hard disagree with your dismissal of his performance in Da 5 Bloods. Both performances are masterclasses. Ma Rainey’s is explosive, 5 Bloods is subtle and affecting.
Well this is a agree to disagree thing because he did not deserve it for five bloods over much bigger and more important supporting roles and I’ve never seen anyone suggest he should win for five bloods until now. Not to say that it means anything to you but it points to how unlikely he ever was to win for that. I would be saying the same thing if he was alive.
These endless first ever headlines start to look silly after a while. This is not a stunning achievement and not a thing anyone is striving for.I’m happy that he is being celebrated. And a worthy role. I would just leave it at that.
Still hard to believe he’s no longer with us. Dammit.