The 2020 Video Music Awards started Sunday night with a tribute to the “Black Panther” star Chadwick Boseman, who died last Friday at the age of 43, after privately battling colon cancer for four years.
The annual ceremony was hosted by Keke Palmer, who acknowledged the death of the "Black Panther" star during the show's opening.
"Before we get into the music tonight, we need to talk about the devastating loss of Chadwick Boseman, an actor whose talent and passion is a true inspiration to all the fans he touched and everyone he encountered. We dedicate tonight's show to a man whose spirit touched so many. He is a true hero. Not just on-screen but in everything he did. His impact lives forever." Palmer said.
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The ceremony also screened a video tribute to Boseman, which included his appearance at the 2018 MTV Movie and TV Awards as he accepted an MTV Movie Award in 2018 for his role as king of the fictional African kingdom Wakanda in “Black Panther,” and displayed a black screen with the words “Rest in Power.”
The groundbreaking 2018 superhero movie was the first in the genre to feature a predominantly Black cast. It had jumped back into the top five on the Apple and Amazon movie charts on Sunday.
The footage also showed Boseman presenting his trophy to James Shaw Jr., a real-life hero who stopped a gunman at a Waffle House in Tennessee after he killed several people.
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The death of the “Black Panther” star shocked fans around the world and left them in a state of sadness over the passing of a “true hero.”
Boseman, who starred in Da 5 Bloods and Marshall as well as Black Panther, had been diagnosed in 2016 but did not go public with his illness.
He bravely fought his battle in silence and continued to film his most famous roles, during and between countless surgeries and chemotherapy.
The sad news was declared on August 29 via Boseman's Twitter account, which has now become the most-liked tweet in Twitter history.
The social media company’s official feed announced the news on Saturday. The tweet currently has over 7m likes. The previous most-liked tweet was by Barack Obama, with 4.3m.
https://twitter.com/Twitter/status/1299808792322940928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1299808792322940928%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffilm%2F2020%2Faug%2F31%2Ffinal-tweet-from-chadwick-boseman-account-most-liked-ever-on-twitter
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