Black-ish scored a hat-trick during the first hour of the NAACP Image Awards. The hit ABC show was named best comedy series and brought acting awards for stars Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross.
“It’s an extraordinary thing to be able to show what a beautiful black family looks like on television,” Ross said as the cast accepted the comedy series honour.
Anderson also hosted the ceremony Monday at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. And Ross was among the first stars to appear on stage, when a group of six Hollywood women emerged holding hands to issue a get-out-the-vote call.
Ross, Kerry Washington, Laverne Cox, Jurnee Smollet-Bell, Lena Waithe and Angela Robinson declared support for the Time’s Up initiative to stop sexual harassment and gender discrimination and urged viewers to speak up at the polls as well.
“The midterms are a perfect moment for us to use our voices,” Robinson said. “If we can take back a senate seat in Alabama...”
“Then we have the ability to shift the imbalance of power,” Smollet-Bell said.
Anderson opened with a politically-tinged monologue, taking aim at Omarosa Manigault and President Donald Trump’s administration. He also said he doesn’t expect Oprah Winfrey to run for president.
“Why would she move to a smaller house?” he said.
Some of the ceremony’s most poignant moments came during presentations of special awards.
Presenter Halle Berry said it’s significant that the NAACP Image Awards are airing on Martin Luther King Jr. day.
“We need to take heed to his eloquent words: ‘Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter,’” she said. “Today is an affirmation that we will never ever, ever, ever be silent again.”
She presented the Music Makes a Difference award to Charlie Wilson, who talked about his road from addiction and homelessness to musical success and philanthropy.
He said he prayed and promised that if he could survive the streets, he would return to serve others. Wilson said Monday that he has been sober for 22 years and is focused on helping homeless addicts.
Labour organiser William Lucy received the Chairman’s Award for his more than 40 years of service. Beyond his union leadership, Lucy was also an activist who fought apartheid in South Africa.
He dedicated his award to the Memphis Sanitation workers who went on strike in 1968, several of whom were in the audience at the Image Awards.
Danny Glover discussed his advocacy for labour unions as he received the President’s Award. He spoke specifically of a Nissan plant in Canton, Mississippi, where 80 per cent of employees are black, that has yet to organise.
“Civil rights and labour rights have always been one and the same,” Glover said.
Another arresting moment in the show came during singer Andra Day’s chilling performance of Billie Holiday’s Strange Fruit. Rapper Common joined her for their song Stand Up for Something.
Mary J. Blige and Jay-Z are the leading nominees at the 49th Image Awards, which is being broadcast live on TV One. The show recognises exceptional work by people of colour in film, TV, music and literature.
Jay-Z is up for entertainer of the year honours against Ava DuVernay, Bruno Mars, Chadwick Boseman, Issa Rae and Chance the Rapper.
A batch of winners was revealed during a pre-telecast dinner on Sunday evening. Jordan Peele won writing and directing honours for Get Out. SZA was named best new artist in the music category, while the genre’s best artist awards went to Blige and Bruno Mars.
