Kerry Washington and more Lofwayans family
The Wayans family was admitted to the NAACP Hall of Fame on Saturday evening during the 56th Image Awards.
The Wayanses – Broers and Sisters Keenen Ivory Wayans, Damon Wayans Sr., Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Kim Wayans and the second generation of talent, Damon Wayans Jr., Damien Dante Wayans, Craig Wayans and Chaunté Wayans – joined earlier inductions Including new edition, including new edition, Eddie Murphy, Oprah Winfrey, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Spike Lee and Earth Wind and Fire.
The NAACP Hall of Fame Award is awarded to “individuals or groups that have been pioneers in their respective areas and whose influence continues to form their industry for generations.” And as one of the most influential families in comedy and entertainment-unemployed hits as “in living color” (who also launched the career of Jennifer Lopez and Rosie Perez), “My Wife and Kids”, “Hollywood Shuffle , “The” Scary Movie “franchise,” White chicks “and the hit CBS Sitcom “Poppa’s House” – they certainly fit in the bill.
“It’s almost outside of words,” said Chaunté Wayans Variety About being honored next to her family. “Keenen has always been the godfather of the family. His vision to choose people and putting together a team of different artists – even outside our family. The moment I really knew what [our legacy] Was, when you see successful stars, such as Jim Carrey and Jamie Foxx, about that start and open those doors. He broke barriers and he taught us not to be afraid of taking risks. ‘
On stage, Damon and Marlon Wayans also gave their oldest brother his appropriate, a moving and hilarious speech about how Keenen has processed the future of the family by moving to Hollywood, and then taught each of his brothers and sisters how to succeed in The entertainment business.
‘On May 5, 1965, my brother saw Ivory and I the young Richard Pryor make his television debut about’ The Ed Sullivan Show ‘. Richard was animated and hilarious with a very clean comic routine, “Damon Wayans began. “While I saw a funny comedian, Keenan saw his future. From that day Keenen was dead to be just like Richard Pryor. ”
Keenen, who was removed from gaining a technical degree for six months, revolved around comedy, eventually packing a U-haul and moved Cross-Country with his best friend Richard Townsend to make it big in Hollywood.
“And my mom didn’t go well,” said Marlon Wayans, while the crowd chuckled. “Keenen said Ma that he is leaving the university to be a comedian. My mother said: ‘A comedian? Boy, I’ve known you all your life. You never said nothing funny. You a comedian – That is The funniest you have ever said. “She said,” At least have a backup plan. ” Then Marlon continued in an imitation of his brother’s voice and continued: “He said:” There is no backup plan in success. It’s comedy or nothing. ” ‘
When Keenen landed his first stand-up on ‘The Johnny Carson Show’, the family gathered around a black and white TV in their kitchen with a broken antenna. “From that day, I as a child, I was sitting there and I had something like ‘wow, you mean, not only you can dream, but you can make your dreams come true.”
Despite some ups and downs – Keenen made his promise well: it was comedy or nothing.
The speech was a moving tribute to Keenen, who was not present at the prizes, and underlined the vastness of what he and his brothers and sisters achieved in the decades afterwards. (View their full comments in the video above.) An example of this, in addition to the Hall of Fame Honor, the Wayanses have also made individual awards this year: Damon and Damon Wayans Jr. Best Actor (his first victory in six nominations) and best supporting actor won, respectively, for ‘Poppa’s House’, while Marlon Wayan’s excellent guest performance won for his dramatic twist in Peacock’s ‘Bel-Air’.
“It’s so rare. I can’t think of another family each Race that has been so deep for so long – and none of them sings. Not An From them, “David Alan Grier joked, who also broke great from” in living color “and the Wayans presented during the ceremony. “One thing that you will not hear from the Wayans is a gospel album, and if they do that, the buck will be wild. But seriously, that’s probably all that they are not Doing. Everything else, they locked it up. “
Every funny person in Hollywood had praised the wayanses, with words such as “legendary” and “iconic” to describe them.
“The only thing they need to be honored for – they must be honored for everything they did – but the most important thing is that they didn’t wait for anyone,” said Deon Cole, who organized this year’s image awards.
He explained: “They wrote their own films. They wrote their own TV programs. They made their own way. And that was the thing that made them so important to them, and it led to the spirit of everyone. You would not have ‘insecure’, ‘black-like’ ‘Atlanta’, if you did not have had them creating their own things that fueled the spirit of other black writers to write their own. ‘
“Abbott Elementary” star Janelle James has Kim Wayans among her idols. “First of all, she is hilarious,” said James. “Secondly, she was a black woman with dark skin at a time when there were not many black women with dark skin on TV. Able to be Goofy, which is the opposite of what many black women are depicted as on television. I just love her. She is a phenomenal talent. Underestimated. “
“Saturday Night Live” star ego Nwodim, who has just celebrated the 50 -year anniversary of That Iconic sketch show, said she grew up watching the Wayans family. “They are legendary, so I am so happy to be in the building when they get their flowers because they absolutely earn them. And it’s high time that they did it. “
Kerry Washington described her stint in the Wayans-World-Benamen with the comedy in the comedy ‘Little Man’ from 2006 with Marlon and Shawn and directed by Keenen-Al ‘one of the highlights of my career. I loved every second to work with them. ‘
Perhaps it is best to speak about the inheritance of the Wayans family, Essence Atkins, who has done six projects with the family for the past 30 years, is starting with the “The Wayans Bros.” From 1995 series, where she played ‘Kim’s best friend, Marlon’s Pain the Butt and Shawn’s Girlfriend’, and continues today with ‘Poppa’s House’.
“The inheritance is not to be denied, but what I love is the kind of not -powerful nepotism,” said Atkins, which means that not only made way for their relatives, but once you have been inserted into their comedy group, you were sitting in front of it to live. Their way of doing business is included.
“We are going to keep the door open. We are going to support it open. We are going to put stones in it. Nobody closes this door, “she said. “And everyone who walks through it will be great, is qualified, will know their things, will become innovative and will continue to excel outside the opportunity that they have been that they have been given. That’s just an incredible thing. “Atkins added:” Growing with the family, I definitely feel an honorary way – they certainly treat me that way. “
