NAACP Image Awards

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NAACP Image Award
Current: 53rd NAACP Image Awards
Awarded forExcellence in film, television, theatre, music, and literature
CountryUnited States
Presented byNAACP
First awardedAugust 13, 1967; 54 years ago (1967-08-13)
Websitewww.naacpimageawards.net Edit this at Wikidata

The NAACP Image Award is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. Similar to other awards, like the Oscars and the Grammys, the over 40 categories of the Image Awards are voted on by the award organization's members (in this case, NAACP members). Honorary awards (similar to the Academy Honorary Award) have also been included, such as the President's Award, the Chairman's Award, the Entertainer of the Year, and the Hall of Fame Award.

History[]

The award ceremony was first organized and presented on August 13, 1967, by activists Maggie Hathaway, Sammy Davis, Jr. and , all three of whom were leaders of the Beverly Hills-Hollywood NAACP branch.[1][2] While it was first taped for television by NBC (which broadcast the awards from 1987 to 1994 in January, on weeks when Saturday Night Live wasn't airing a new episode), it would only be broadcast in primetime beginning in 1996. There was no awards ceremony in 1973 or 1995.

The first live broadcast of the awards, also on the Fox Network, occurred in 2007 for its 38th edition (up until 2007, the ceremony had been broadcast with tape delay) and the annual ceremonies usually take place in or around the Los Angeles area, in February or early March. The 44th edition aired on NBC. Sources have had trouble verifying the winners in the top categories from 1983 to 1995.

The New York firm Society Awards manufactures the trophy since its redesign in 2008.

Event dates and locations[]

# Date Host(s) Location
1st[2] August 13, 1967 The Beverly Hilton
2nd[3] September 22, 1968 The Beverly Hilton
3rd[4] October 11, 1969
4th[5] November 15, 1970
5th[6] November 21, 1971
6th[7] November 18, 1972
7th January 1973
8th January 19, 1974 Hollywood Palladium
9th January 18, 1975
10th February 7, 1976
11th April 24, 1977
12th June 9, 1978
13th January 27, 1979 Hollywood Palladium
[8] January 27, 1980 Louis Gossett Jr./Rita Moreno/Ted Lange/Benjamin Hooks/Valenti
14th December 5, 1981 Robert Guillaume Hollywood Palladium
15th December 1982 Jayne Kennedy/George Peppard/Michael Warren
16th December 4, 1983 Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
17th December 1984
18th December 1985
19th December 13, 1986 Debbie Allen/Denzel Washington
20th December 1987 Denzel Washington/Debbie Allen
21st December 1988
22nd December 9, 1989
23rd December 9, 1990
24th January 11, 1992 Pasadena Civic Auditorium
25th January 16, 1993
26th January 5, 1994
27th April 6, 1996 Whitney Houston/Denzel Washington
28th February 8, 1997 Arsenio Hall, Patti LaBelle
29th February 14, 1998 Vanessa L. Williams, Gregory Hines
30th February 14, 1999 Mariah Carey, Blair Underwood[9]
31st February 12, 2000 Diana Ross
32nd February 23, 2001 Chris Tucker Universal Amphitheatre
33rd March 3, 2002
34th March 8, 2003 Cedric the Entertainer
35th March 6, 2004 Tracee Ellis Ross/Golden Brooks/Persia White/Jill Marie Jones
36th March 19, 2005 Chris Tucker Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
37th February 26, 2006 Cuba Gooding Jr. Shrine Auditorium
38th March 2, 2007 LL Cool J
39th February 14, 2008 D. L. Hughley
40th February 12, 2009 Halle Berry/Tyler Perry
41st February 26, 2010 Anika Noni Rose/Hill Harper
42nd March 4, 2011 Wayne Brady/Holly Robinson Peete
43rd February 17, 2012 Sanaa Lathan/Anthony Mackie
44th February 1, 2013 Steve Harvey
45th February 22, 2014 Anthony Anderson[10] Pasadena Civic Auditorium
46th February 6, 2015
47th February 5, 2016
48th February 11, 2017
49th January 15, 2018
50th March 30, 2019 Dolby Theatre
51st February 22, 2020 Pasadena Civic Auditorium
52nd March 27, 2021 Virtual
53rd February 26, 2022[11] TBA

Controversies[]

In 1987, the NAACP came under fire for dropping their Best Actress award for that year. They defended this position, citing a lack of meaningful roles for black women.[12] In 1990, they were criticized once again for not awarding Best Actress.[13] This was the fourth time it could not find enough nominees for Best Actress.[13] Sandra Evers-Manly, president of the organization's Beverly Hills/Hollywood branch, said, "The [film] industry has yet to show diversity or present realistic leading roles for African-American women."[13]

In other years, some nominees have been called undeserving of NAACP attention. In response, some NAACP representatives have argued that the quality of an artist's work is the salient issue, with factors such as criminal charges inconsequential in this regard. For example, in 1994, Tupac Shakur was a nominee for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture for the film Poetic Justice despite the filing of sexual assault charges against him in December 1993.[14] More specifically, Shakur had been accused of felony counts of forcible sodomy and unlawful detainment in New York City, when a woman alleged that he and two other men held her down in a hotel room while a fourth man sodomized her.[15] Shakur was also indicted for two counts of aggravated assault in an unrelated incident in which he supposedly shot and wounded two off-duty police officers.[15] In the same year, Martin Lawrence was criticized for winning Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series and Outstanding Comedy Series and the show was criticized for its sexual controversy.[15][clarification needed] In 2004, R. Kelly's Chocolate Factory was nominated for Outstanding Album[16] while he was under indictment for charges related to child pornography.[17]

Other nominees have faced controversy due to their portrayals of major civil rights figures. In 2003, the movie Barbershop received five nominations, including Outstanding Motion Picture and Outstanding Supporting Actor (for Cedric the Entertainer's performance). In the film, Cedric's character makes pejorative remarks about Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., Michael Jackson, and Jesse Jackson, content that elicited criticism, including Rosa Parks's refusal to attend the awards event.[18] The rap group OutKast received six nominations in 2004 but faced criticism because they had previously recorded the song "Rosa Parks", which had resulted in Parks suing them over the use of her name.[17]

Award categories[]

These are the major categories:

References[]

  1. ^ "History | NAACP Image Awards".
  2. ^ a b "NAACP Will Present Nine Image Awards". The Los Angeles Times. August 7, 1967.
  3. ^ "NAACP to Confer Honors at Beverly Hilton Fete". Valley Times (North Hollywood, California), August 6, 1968, p. 7.
  4. ^ Knapp, Dan (September 27, 1969). "Getting Blacker, But Not Black Enough". The Vancouver Sun (Vancouver, British Columbia).
  5. ^ "NAACP Sets Annual Image Awards Show", The Los Angeles Times. September 8, 1970.
  6. ^ "Marvin Gaye Wins Top Honors at NAACP Image Awards Show". The Pittsburgh Courier. December 4, 1971.
  7. ^ "NAACP Honors Black Performers". The Palm Beach Post (West Palm Beach, Florida). November 20, 1972.
  8. ^ Robinson, Leroy (May 1980), "'Together They Did It!' The 12th Annual NAACP Image Awards", The Crisis, vol. 85, No. 5, p. 162.
  9. ^ "NAACP Image Awards Glitters For 30 Years". The Crisis. The Crisis Publishing Company, Inc. April 1, 1999. pp. 35–37. Retrieved January 21, 2017.
  10. ^ "The 45th NAACP Image Awards Announces Additional Presenters Including Idris Elba, Vin Diesel, Terry Crews & More". TV By The Numbers. February 13, 2014. Archived from the original on June 30, 2017. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
  11. ^ "NAACP Announces '53rd NAACP Image Awards' To Be Held In Person" (Press release). BET. November 18, 2021.
  12. ^ "NAACP cites lack of Best Actress in a Motion Picture Award due to lack of meaningful roles". UPI.com. October 29, 1987. Retrieved July 23, 2016.
  13. ^ a b c "Why NAACP lacks image award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture". LA Times. October 25, 1990. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
  14. ^ "Michael Jackson makes surprise appearance at NAACP Image Awards". Jet. January 24, 1994. Retrieved September 29, 2006.
  15. ^ a b c Leonardi, Marisa (January 7, 1994). "Shakur Questionably nominated". LA Times. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  16. ^ Wiederhorn, Jon (January 8, 2004). "Outkast, Beyoncé, R. Kelly Nominated For NAACP Image Awards". VH1.com. Retrieved September 29, 2006.
  17. ^ a b "Paula Zahn Now: Can Democrats Challenge Kerry?; NAACP Controversy; California Death Penalty Debate". CNN.com. January 28, 2004. Retrieved September 29, 2006.
  18. ^ "Image Awards rekindle 'Barbershop' controversy". CNN.com. March 9, 2003. Archived from the original on June 29, 2006. Retrieved September 29, 2006.

External links[]

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