Political Moments From MTV Movie Awards 2018

As always, this year’s MTV Movie Awards provided no shortage of memorable fashion, beauty, and pop culture moments. But celebrities continued to use the award show platform to also get political, speaking up about inclusion and acceptance across races and sexualities, LGBTQ rights, and cyberbullying. Here, the standout moments of the night.

1. Chadwick Boseman gave his “Best Hero”award to James Shaw Jr.

Boseman, who won the “Best Hero” award for his role in Black Panther, passed his golden popcorn to James Shaw Jr., a real-life hero. Shaw Jr., 29, stopped a mass shooter at a Tennessee Waffle House in April of this year, tackling the gunman to the ground when he paused to reload his weapon.

“Receiving an award for playing a superhero is amazing, but it’s even greater to acknowledge the heroes we have in real life,” Boseman said in his speech, signaling Shaw Jr. to come up from the audience. “You didn’t even know we were about to do this, did you? This is going to live at your house,” he said, handing the award to Shaw Jr. at the podium.

2. Love Simon Star Keiyan Lonsdale defended LGBTQ youth.

Love Simon was a major stride for LGBTQ representation in mainstream movies, but co-stars Keiyan Lonsdale and Nick Robinson taking home the award for “Best Kiss” was icing on the cake. Right on key with Love Simon‘s themes, Lonsdale used his acceptance speech as an opportunity to stand up for LGBTQ youth.

“I just want to say to every kid, you can live your dreams and wear dresses,” he said. “You can live your dreams and kiss the one that you love, no matter what gender they are. You can live your dreams and you can believe in magic. You can live your dreams and you can be yourself.”

3. Lena Waithe credited her career to the queer artists behind Paris is Burning.

In her acceptance speech for the coveted (and well-deserved) “Trailblazer” award, Lena Waithe paid homage to the unsung queer heroes that forged a path before her. She cited the artists behind the 1990 documentary, Paris is Burning, which followed the triumphs of drag queens trying to make it in New York City despite shame from the public.

“I believe that the only reason why I’m even allowed to stand here is because of a few other trailblazers that some of you might not be aware of,” Waithe said. She went on to name and thank characters from the film, most notably Pepper LaBeija, and dedicated her award to the LGBTQ cast.

4. Millie Bobbie Brown preached her stance on anti-bullying.

Days after deleting her Twitter account to bring attention to cyber bulling, the Stranger Things star used her video acceptance speech (she was unable to attend the awards) for “Best Performance in a Show” to promote anti-bullying.

“Since I know there are many young people watching this, and even to the adults too, they could probably use the reminder that I was taught—that if you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say it,” she said in the video. “If you need a reminder of how worthy you are, and to rise above the hate, message me on Instagram.”

5. Lena Waithe’s red carpet look honored a Civil Rights heroine.

Lena Waithe made history last year when she became the first African Amercan woman to win an Emmy for comedy writing for her work on Netflix’s Master of None. This year, she continues to make political waves at award shows, walking the MTV Movie Awards red carpet in a hoodie that featured a photo of famed Civil Rights activist Shirley Chisholm. Chisholm was the first African American woman to be elected to U.S. Congress, representing New York’s 12th Congressional District for seven terms.

“It was announced that Lena was getting this award and before I could even say, ‘Hey, let’s do this,’ she came to me and said, ‘Shirley Chisholm was the inspiration behind my speech, so we need to figure out what to do with this image,” Waithe’s stylist, Tiffany Hasborne, told The Hollywood Reporter. “So I had the image of Shirley Chisholm printed onto a generic black stock hoodie. And we could only hope for the response we’ve been getting.”

6. Michael B. Jordan dissed Roseanne Barr for her racist Tweets.

After a string of bizarre Tweets from Roseanne star, Roseanne Barr—one in particular making racist remarks against Valerie Jarrett, an African-American woman and senior adviser to Barack Obama—ABC cancelled the popular popular reboot. But Michael B. Jordan isn’t soon to forget. While accepting the award for “Best Villain,” for his role Erik Killmonger in Black Panther, Jordan joked that Barr herself should have won the award.

“I’m shocked that I won this award for Best Villain,” Jordan said. “I thought for sure Roseanne had that in the bag.”