Chadwick Boseman Makes History at NAACP Image Awards With Multiple Wins

The late Chadwick Boseman won big at the 52nd NAACP Image Awards on Saturday night. The ceremony, which aired live on BET and other ViacomCBS networks from the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, saw Boseman win awards for his last two movies, Spike Lee‘s Da 5 Bloods and the film adaptation of August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Boseman died on Aug. 18, 2020, at 43 following a battle with colon cancer. Boseman’s victories earned waves of applause on Twitter as his widow, Simone Ledward Boseman, accepted the awards on his behalf.

Boseman won Outstanding Actor on a Motion Picture for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, in which he stars as an ambitious jazz musician. The performance already earned Boseman an Oscar nomination. Earlier this month, he won Best Actor in a Drama for the film at the Golden Globes. Ledward Boseman delivered a tearful speech in accepting the award.

“He would thank God. He would thank his parents. He would thank his ancestors for their guidance and their sacrifices,” Ledward Boseman said in her Golden Globes speech, reports Variety. “He would say something beautiful, something inspiring, something that would amplify that little voice inside of 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.” She went on to thank Boseman’s co-stars, the film’s director, George C. Wolfe, Netflix, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, and Boseman’s mentor, Denzel Washington.

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If Boseman wins the Oscar for Best Actor on April 25, he would be just the third actor to win an acting Oscar posthumously. The other nominees for the award are Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal), Anthony Hopkins (The Father), Gary Oldman (Mank), and Steven Yeun (Minari).

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On Saturday night, Boseman also won the Outstanding Supporting Actor award for his performance in Da 5 Bloods. He beat out his Ma Rainey’s co-stars Colman Domingo and Glynn Turman, Da 5 Bloods‘ Clarke Peters, and One Night in Miami‘s Aldis Hodge. Although many awards watchers predicted Boseman might get an Oscar nomination for Da 5 Bloods as well, he did not. Da 5 Bloods was mostly ignored by the Oscars, with Terence Blanchard earning the film’s only Oscar nomination for his score.

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Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom did much better at the Oscars. Aside from Boseman’s nomination, the film is up for Best Actress for Viola Davis, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, and Best Production Design. On Saturday, Davis won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress and the cast won Outstanding Ensemble Cast. The film was also nominated for Outstanding Motion Picture.

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The other nominees in the NAACP’s Outstanding Actor field were Anthony Mackie (The Banker), Delroy Lindo (Da 5 Bloods), Forest Whitaker (Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey), and Will Smith (Bad Boys for Life). Boseman was the only actor in this field also nominated for an Oscar.

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Phylicia Rashad won Outstanding Supporting Actress for Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey. Gina Price-Bythewood won Outstanding Directing for Netflix’s The Old Guard, beating out Ma Rainey’s director George C. Wolfe.

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The French film Night of the Kings won Outstanding International Motion Picture, while The Banker won Outstanding Independent Movie. Disney and Pixar’s Soul won Outstanding Animated Motion Picture with Jamie Foxx winning Outstanding Character Voice Performance for the film.