It was the Hollywood star Will Smith's first award since his notorious incident at the 2022 Oscars, when he slapped Chris Rock onstage when he took home the NAACP Image Award for outstanding performer in a motion picture for his performance in "Emancipation" on Saturday night.
According to the reports, Smith was not present at the ceremony to receive his award in person.
Smith plays a runaway slave who sets out on a perilous trip to Baton Rouge while evading violent plantation owners in this 19th-century drama set in Louisiana. "Emancipation" was influenced by the 1863 image "Whipped Peter," which shows a former slave with serious lacerations on his back.
The widespread use of the picture brought slavery's brutality to the attention of the American people.
Following Smith's incident at the Oscars, Apple TV+ originally decided to postpone "Emancipation," but later decided to position the historical drama as an awards season contender, releasing the movie in October.
On March 1, Smith and director Antoine Fuqua will receive a Beacon Award from the African-American Film Critics Association for their work on the movie, which they both co-produced.
The movie received two Black Reel Awards nods as well.
Smith's victory comes almost a year after the contentious 2022 Oscars, when the actor slapped Rock for making a poor jest about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, and the actor was later suspended from the Academy. Moments afterward, Smith's portrayal of King Richard earned him the best actor Oscar.
Smith was prohibited from attending any Academy-sponsored events for the following ten years as a consequence of the altercation.
At the NAACP Image Awards, Daniel Kaluuya ("Nope"), Jonathan Majors ("Devotion"), Joshua Boone ("A Jazzman's Blues"), and Sterling K. Brown ("Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul") were also up for the award for best actor in a motion film.
The NAACP Image Awards were presented live for the first time since February 2020 on February 25 after a four-day online awards ceremony. The 54th annual awards ceremony, hosted by Queen Latifah live from the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, announced the winners in this year's broadcast and motion picture categories.
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