Chadwick Boseman created a moment during the 2018 MTV Movie & TV Awards, taking his award for playing a fictional hero in Black Panther to honor a real hero. During his acceptance speech, Boseman invited Nashville Waffle House hero James Shaw Jr. to the stage, telling him that the award “is going to live at your house.”
Congrats @chadwickboseman for winning 'Best Hero' 🙏 pic.twitter.com/vchNdV8EfV
— Movie & TV Awards (@MTVAwards) June 19, 2018
29-year-old Shaw entered the headlines after word spread that he helped wrestle the AR-15 away from shooter Travis Reinking during the attack that killed four. Shaw sustained his own injuries during the attack after being grazed by a bullet and burning his hand on the barrel of the rifle while tossing the weapon away from Reinking and forcing him out the entrance of the restaurant. Boseman acknowledged the act during his speech before inviting Shaw up on the stage:
https://twitter.com/real-lifeoseman/status/1008885597300240389
“Receiving an award for playing a superhero is amazing but it’s even greater to acknowledge the heroes we have in real life…He fought off a gunman in Antioch, Tennessee, at a Waffle House. He saved lives … a real-life hero,”
HERO. Feeling inspired by @JamesShawJr9? Visit https://t.co/OSpuj224mM to use that energy to #EndGunViolence #MTVAwards pic.twitter.com/UkomoXjlRH
— MTV Look Different (@LookDifferent) June 19, 2018
Shaw’s GoFundMe that started immediately after the shooting has reached “more than $200,000 to support the families of the victims” and he has received a ton of praise himself with Boseman’s award being the cap off to the situation. And according to People, he has remained humble about the situation and claimed he acted more on self-preservation:
“I don’t want people to think that I was the Terminator or Superman or anybody like that”
I think everybody is just happy he’s James Shaw at this point.
(Via People)