‘Love, Simon’ receives Best Kiss at MTV Movie Awards
Lena Waithe also received the Trailblazer award for her activism and comedic work
Love Simon — Photo: Ben Rothstein
Gay coming of age film Love Simon received Best Kiss at the 2018 MTV Movie awards on Monday for the climatic smooch between Simon, played by Nick Robinson, and his penpal Bram, played by Keiynan Lonsdale.
Lonsdale, who is bisexual, accepted the award with an emotionally charged speech.
“I just want to say to every kid: You can live your dreams and wear dresses,” he said, taking a brief moment to sashay across the stage in his gold-plated gown. “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.”
This is the second year in a row that Best Kiss has been awarded to a same-sex kiss, with Moonlight actors Ashton Sanders and Jharrel Jerome nabbing the award last year.
Best Kiss was not the only LGBTQ moment during the show. Lena Waithe received the Trailblazer Award for her comedic viewpoint on Netflix’s Master of None and Showtime’s The Chi.
An out lesbian, Waithe participates in LGBTQ acitivism and took the time to honor queer pioneers who “strutted through a brick wall so we wouldn’t have to,” specifically mentioning stars from the documentary Paris is Burning, which documented New York’s ’80s drag scene.
“I want to do what we as a society should have done a long time ago, and that’s give them the glory and the shine they deserve,” Waithe said. “A lot of people featured in this film are no longer with us, but their legacy will never die.”
Watch Lonsdale’s speech below:
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