Entertainment News
Gayes! The GLAAD Media Awards are set to return with Oprah Winfrey and Niecy Nash-Betts tapped as honorees at this year's 35th ceremony.
The Wayne Brady presented ceremony is set to take place on March 14 in Los Angeles.
Winfrey is set to receive the coveted Vanguard Award “for championing allyship and making a significant difference in promoting acceptance of LGBTQ people and issues.”
Throughout her career Winfrey has been honored by GLAAD including 9 awards for The Oprah Winfrey Show in the Outstanding Talk Show episode category, as well as receiving honors for her work on the OWN documentary Becoming Chaz, OWN’s Oprah’s Next Chapter and for an interview with actor Elliot Page on Apple TV+’s The Oprah Conversation.
GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis called Winfrey a pioneer for diverse and inclusive media, and celebrated her for supporting the LGBTQ+ community at a time when it was potentially career-ending to do so, “She has shined a powerful light on HIV, on LGBTQ families and on coming out, which educated and moved countless around the world.” Ellis said.
Ellis continued saying “When Oprah speaks, the world listens and our community cherishes her as an unapologetic ally, especially to transgender people. Winfrey’s commanding career will forever align her on the right side of history.”
Nash-Betts is set to receive the Stephen F. Kolzak Award which honors recipients who have used their media to raise the visibility of LGBTQ people and issues as a member of the community.
“Opening doors both as a Black and queer woman, Niecy Nash-Bett’s outstanding legacy as a performer gives new meaning to the term trailblazer,” said Ellis. “Her decades-long career is owed to her empathy, talent and authenticity, which undoubtedly inform each move she makes as an activist and every role she portrays onscreen.”
Previous recipients of the Stephen F. Kolzak Award include Laverne Cox, Jeremy Pope, Wanda Sykes, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, and more.
In addition to appearances by Winfrey and Nash-Betts - Alexandra Shipp, Daniel Franzese, Meredith Marks, Heather Dubrow, Jason Sudeikis, Jonathan Bailey, Matt Bomer, Michelle Visage, Victoria Monét and more are set to appear.