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Opening the annual ceremony dedicated to the
best in pop music, host Keke Palmer called Boseman “an actor
whose talent and passion is a true inspiration to all the fans
he touched, and everyone he encountered."
"We dedicate tonight’s show to a man whose spirit touched so
many. He’s a true hero, not just on screen, but everything he
did. His impact lives forever,” Palmer said.
Boseman's death on Friday of colon cancer brought an outpouring
of tributes ranging from former U.S. President Barack Obama to
Oprah Winfrey and "Black Panther" director Ryan Coogler.
Boseman had been diagnosed in 2016, his family said, but had not
publicly disclosed his illness.
The VMA awards show on Sunday also ran clips of Boseman
accepting an MTV Movie Award in 2018 for his role as king of the
fictional African kingdom Wakanda in "Black Panther," and aired
a black screen with the words "Rest in Power."
The groundbreaking 2018 superhero movie, the first in the genre
to feature a predominantly Black cast, jumped back into the top
five on the Apple and Amazon movie charts on Sunday.
ABC television changed its schedule on Sunday to air the "Black
Panther" film and hosted a tribute to the actor's life and work.
His family's tweet announcing his death on the actor's Twitter
account became the most-liked posting ever on Twitter, the
social media platform said on Saturday. It had 7.2 million likes
by Sunday.
Coogler described Boseman in a statement on Sunday as "an epic
firework display" and said he had been unaware that Boseman was
ill while filming "Black Panther."
Boseman's other screen credits included playing Jackie Robinson,
who broke Major League Baseball's color bar, and funk musician
James Brown.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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