Moonlight actors Ashton Sanders and Jharrel Jerome won best kiss at the MTV Movie and TV Awards on Sunday.
The pair had some heavy competition from La La Land‘s Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, Beauty and the Beast‘s Emma Watson and Dan Stevens, Empire‘s Taraji P. Henson and Terrence Howard, as well as Zac Efron and Anna Kendrick for Mike & Dave Need Wedding Dates.
21-year-old Ashton and 19-year-old Jharrel were in attendance to accept the award together.
“I really have to start with saying thank you to my parents,” said Jharrell. “I love y’all so much. But on a real note I think it is safe to say that it is okay for us young performers, especially us minority performers, to step out of the box. It’s okay for us to step out of the box and do whatever it take to tell the story and whatever it takes to make the change.”
“This award is for that,” he added. “It’s for us artists who are out there, who need to do whatever it takes to get people to wake up.”
Ashton added a few more words about the importance of winning the award.
“This award is bigger than Jharrel and I,” he said. “This represents more than a kiss. This is for those who feel like the unders, the misfits — this represents us. We love y’all and thank y’all.”
This truly warms our hearts.
