Angela Bassett Wins Entertainer Of The Year At NAACP Image Awards; Thanks Spike Lee, Betty Shabazz And Ryan Coogler In Acceptance Speech

Angela Bassett won big at the NAACP Image Awards on Saturday. The actress took home three trophies: for Outstanding Actress in a drama series for 9-1-1, Supporting Actress for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and the biggest award of the night, Entertainer of the Year.

Accepting the latter honor in the last speech of the night, Bassett said “I guess Angela Bassett did the thing!” — a nod to Ariana DeBose’s BAFTA performance the previous weekend. Bassett also thanked Spike Lee, Malcolm X’s wife Betty Shabazz, John Singleton and Ryan Coogler for giving her acting opportunities throughout her career. 

“Thank you so much to my family, and thank YOU family. I love you and appreciate you from the bottom of my heart,” Bassett said. “Gratitude is the universe’s way of saying we are not existing in this world alone. We have each other.”

Bassett has been nominated close to 40 times for Image Awards and has won 17. She has been nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe twice, for the same films: What’s Love Got To Do With It and this year’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The nominations are 29 years apart.