Maeve McDermott
USA TODAY
Published 3:55 p.m. UTC Jun 19, 2018
In the bleeped-out words of Lady Gaga, “Black (expletive) Panther” was the big winner of Monday night’s MTV Movie and TV Awards.
Gaga, who stars in the forthcoming movie “A Star is Born,” got top honors delivering the night’s biggest award for best movie to “Black Panther,” letting the f-bomb slip in her excitement.
Along with host Tiffany Haddish’s wonderfully raunchy routines, it was one of the only eyebrow-raising moments during MTV’s night of Hollywood honors, from a once-daring network that continues to slide into irrelevancy.
“Black Panther” and “Stranger Things” were the night’s two big winners, taking home three trophies each, with Haddish winning her own golden popcorn for best comedic performance in “Girls Trip.”
Here are five moments worth remembering from this year’s show.
Tiffany Haddish saved the show — and wore her famous white dress again
Thank goodness for Haddish, who gave the show any semblance of a pulse. She began the night with a horny “Black Panther” spoof and moved onto a horny rendition of “Bodak Yellow,” which she then followed by a horny “Star Wars” sketch. See a pattern? Haddish’s “Mystery Science Theater”-style commentary on the year’s biggest box-office hits provided some of the funniest moments of the night.
In between dressing as J-Lo, Audrey Hepburn and Duchess Meghan, Haddish also recycled her signature $4,000 white Alexander McQueen dress, marking the fourth time the gown has made an appearance since Haddish first modeled it at the “Girls Trip” premiere in July 2017.
More: Tiffany Haddish wore Duchess Meghan’s wedding dress at the MTV Movie and TV Awards
Chadwick Boseman honored Waffle House hero James Shaw Jr.
When Boseman took the stage to accept the best hero award for “Black Panther,” he redirected the praise to his guest for the evening, James Shaw Jr., the man who heroically stopped a shooter who opened fire in a Tennessee Waffle House in April.
“Receiving an award for playing a superhero is amazing, but it’s even greater to acknowledge the heroes that we have in real life. So I just want to acknowledge somebody that’s here today, James Shaw Jr,” Boseman said, as the audience gave him a standing ovation.
Boseman invited Shaw onstage and continued his tribute, promising to gift Shaw with his award. “If you don’t know James Shaw Jr., he fought off a gunman in Antioch, Tennessee, at a Waffle House,” he said. “He saved lives … So this (trophy) is going to live at your house. God bless you, man.”
Michael B. Jordan called out Roseanne
The “Black Panther” star seized the opportunity to make a sly joke at Roseanne Barr’s expense when he accepted the award for best villain for his Erik Killmonger role.
“I’m shocked I won the award for best villain,” he said, kicking off his speech. “I thought Roseanne had that in the bag.”
Save for Jordan’s joke, the rest of the night’s speeches skirted any kind of topical humor. President Trump’s name was nowhere to be heard on the broadcast, with Haddish’s sketches and the night’s other comedic moments focusing on spoofing Hollywood, rather than commenting on current events.
“Love, Simon” scores win for best kiss
To accept the “Love, Simon” win in the best kiss category, Keiynan Lonsdale — one half of the winning couple alongside Nick Robinson — wore a white skirt and third-eye forehead makeup onstage to deliver a speech inspired by the film’s same-sex love story.
“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.”
With its win, “Love, Simon” became the second consecutive movie to be honored by the MTV Movie and TV Awards for a same-sex kiss, following “Moonlight’s” best-kiss win for Ashton Sanders and Jharrel Jerome last year.
Lena Waithe and Chris Pratt receive special honors
Along with the various categories’ winners, Chris Pratt and Lena Waithe also addressed the millennial crowd while accepting their respective Generation and Trailblazer awards.
Waithe used her moment in the spotlight to shine a light on the 1990 documentary “Paris is Burning,” which chronicles the Harlem balls and trailblazing drag queens of the ’80s.
“I believe 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. “(‘Paris is Burning’) was released in 1990 and it documents the lives of some of the bravest human beings to ever walk the face of this earth … Tonight, I want to share this award with them.”
Meanwhile, Pratt got existential in his speech, imparting spiritual wisdom onto the awards show’s younger viewers.
“God is real. God loves you, God wants the best for you. Believe that; I do,” he said, before imploring viewers to “learn to pray — it’s easy, and it is so good for your soul.”
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