'Love, Simon' Wins Best Kiss at MTV Movie & TV Awards, Keiynan Lonsdale Gives Heartfelt Speech
Love, Simon captured fans' hearts when the sweet high school novel adaptation hit theaters back in February, and now the teen rom-com is a MTV Movie & TV Award winner for Best Kiss!
Star Keiynan Lonsdale accepted the Golden Popcorn honor at Monday's awards show, celebrating the kiss between his character, Bram, and Nick Robinson's titular lead, Simon. The Love, Simon win actually marks the second year in a row that Best Kiss honors have gone to a same-sex kiss between two male characters in a movie (and one that wasn't played for laughs). Last year's award went to Ashton Sanders and Jharrel Jerome for their beach-side lip lock in Moonlight.
Lonsdale took the stage in a stunning look -- a gold top and white skirt, accessorized with a cream and gold "Prince" sequin coat by WhoCaresWhyNot and mesmerizing third eye jewels by Swarovski -- and gave a heartfelt speech about the power of acceptance and the meaning of the award, which was presented by 13 Reasons Why stars Dylan Minnette, Katherine Langford, Alisha Boe and Miles Heizer.
"I just want to say to every kid: You can live your dreams and wear dresses, you can live your dreams and kiss the one that you love no matter what gender they are," he told the crowd. "You can live your dreams and you can believe in magic, you can live your dreams and you can be yourself."
The actor and "Kiss the Boy" singer recently opened up to ET's Denny Directo and Ash Crossan about how working on Love, Simonhelped him to come out publicly.
“It was chill, it was no big deal, of course,” he recalled of coming out to his co-stars and crew during the film's wrap party, before sharing the news with fans in a heartfelt Instagram post. “It was sort of a final push. It made me realize that I was the only one in control of how I saw myself and the fear that I took with me when I walked into a new situation or a new job.”
See more in the video below.
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