MTV VMAs 2020 Dedicated to Chadwick Boseman: ‘His Impact Lives Forever’
MTV’s night celebrating music began by paying tribute to an iconic actor.
Host Keke Palmer kicked off the virtual 2020 MTV Video Music Awards with a tribute to Chadwick Boseman, best known for playing the iconic King T’Challa in Black Panther, who died Friday at age 43 after a four-year battle with colon cancer.
Boseman was “an actor whose talent and passion is a true inspiration to all the fans he touched,” Palmer said. “We dedicate tonight’s show to a man whose spirit touched so many. He’s a true hero, not just on screen, but in everything he did. His impact lives forever.”
RIP Chadwick Boseman.
Tonight’s #VMAs is dedicated to him.
— Video Music Awards (@vmas) August 31, 2020
In the first commercial break, MTV played Boseman’s acceptance speech for Best Hero from the 2018 Movie & TV Awards with the messages “The World Needs More Superheroes” and “Rest in Power.” During his speech, the actor had called up James Shaw Jr., who fought off a gunman at a Waffle House in Tennessee.
The world needs more superheroes, and we all deserve to see ourselves in them. Chadwick Boseman helped make that happen. Rest in power. pic.twitter.com/d05kkkQR6b
— MTV (@MTV) August 31, 2020
A statement on Boseman’s Twitter account Friday confirmed his passing. “Chadwick was diagnosed with stage III colon cancer in 2016, and battled with it these last 4 years as it progressed to stage IV. A true fighter, Chadwick persevered through it all, and brought you many of the films you have come to love so much,” the statement read.
— Chadwick Boseman (@chadwickboseman) August 29, 2020
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