

47th NAACP Image Awards to Air LIVE on Friday, February 5, 2016 on TV One
LOS ANGELES, CA (June 3, 2015) – The NAACP and TV One jointly announced today that industry veterans Reginald Hudlin and Phil Gurin have signed a three-year deal to continue as executive producers for the NAACP Image Awards. The 47th NAACP Image Awards will be nationally telecast live on TV One on Friday, February 5, 2016 as a two-hour special from the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. The live telecast will also include a one-hour live pre-show from the star-studded red carpet.

“We are elated to have the opportunity to continue to produce the NAACP Image Awards for TV One and have great plans and ideas to raise the bar even higher,” stated Reginald Hudlin and Phil Gurin, Executive Producers. “Our ultimate goal is to deliver an entertaining show that honors the best in our community – we are already working on securing today’s leading talent to be part of the next broadcast.”
The NAACP Image Awards celebrates the accomplishment of people of color in the fields of television, music, literature and film and also honors individuals or groups who promote social justice through creative endeavors. The multi-cultural show is one of the most respected events of its kind and is well attended by many of the top names in the entertainment industry. This year’s telecast included host Anthony Anderson and stellar talent including Oprah Winfrey, Will Smith, Taraji P. Henson, Gabrielle Union, Kerry Washington, Tracee Ellis Ross, David Oyelowo, Spike Lee (President’s Award recipient), Laverne Cox, Octavia Spencer, and more. The Chairman’s Award was bestowed on former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.
Hudlin, former president of B.E.T. Networks, received an Academy Award® and NAACP Image Award nomination as producer on Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained. He also produced the Governor’s Awards and the Black Movie Soundtrack tribute on behalf the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences. Emmy Award winning executive producer and NAACP Image Awards nominee Gurin has created an unprecedented number of variety specials, including major live events, concert performances, reality programs, clip shows, and comedy series. Gurin’s shows have aired on every major U.S. broadcast network, many cable networks, and in over 100 countries around the world.
For all information and latest news, please visit the official NAACP Image Awards website at naacpimageawards.net
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As the producer of the 2014 Governor’s Awards, I talked with Turner Classic Movies about the four honorees receiving Oscars that night. These aired the week of the Oscars. A lot of people saw them on air, but I’m just seeing them!
Here I am talking about Maureen O’Hara. Maureen has some great things to say about Maureen as well.
Pixar visionary James Lassiter and I talk about what makes Hayao Misazaki a cinematic genius.
I could praise Harry Belafonte all day.
Jean-Claude Carriere is flat out brilliant. So happy to celebrate his work.
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This was my third year producing the NAACP Image Awards and it’s so nice to hear ‘this was the best year ever’ from all quarters. Here’s some highlights from the Red Carpet Show. I never understood why didn’t have one before, so I was glad to institute one last year.
Here are clips from the main show. We’re already planning how to make next year’s show the best yet!
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The inaugural Dwayne McDuffie Award for Diversity was awarded Saturday at Long Beach Comic Expo to Nilah Magruder, creator of “M.F.K.”
Writer, director and producer Reginald Hudlin, former “Black Panther” writer and one of the co-founders of the new incarnation of Milestone Media, delivered the keynote address at the event. Hudlin shared the text of his speech with CBR, and it follows in full.
Text of Dwayne McDuffie Award for Diversity keynote speech by Reginald Hudlin
Karl Marx said, “All that is solid melts into air.”
To put it another way, stuff be changing.
Remember the Berlin Wall? People were shot for getting too close to it. Now it’s gone… chunks of it on display at art museums.
My 10-year-old daughter has only known a Black president. She knows some white guys had the job before, but that’s as far back as powered wigs for her.
We’re here to celebrate Dwayne McDuffie. I was a fan of his for a long time. One of the nice things about being quasi-famous is that people you don’t know take your call. I was a fan of Dwayne, so I called him and got invited by the Milestone offices. I met Denys [Cowan], Dwayne, Derek [Dingle] and a lot of the other staffers.
Dwayne told me about getting a phone call from Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who was a fan of their character Icon. It is a testimony to the talent of Dwayne that he could write a character that would have such appeal to someone so ideologically opposite himself.
Dwayne McDuffie was one of my mentors in the world of comics. He did that for a lot of people. We’ll never know how many because of his humility and generosity. I was able to give back a little when I pleaded with him to move to Los Angeles. He had been forced out of comics by an industry that he turned their collective backs on him. Some might say it was because he was difficult, others might say it was because he stood up and spoke out if he saw something was unfair.
He was in Tampa, living with his family, basically shut down. I told him anyone who could write as well as he did, and as fast as he did, would always have a job here. The lack of certainty concerned him. I pleaded with him to trust me. I’m mainly right about these things. And I was right!
He got a job right away writing in animation, and never stopped until he stopped.
He had finally pushed past all the haters. The marginally successful Black comic book creators who attacked Milestone for having distribution through a major company. I told him they will be forgotten and he would be remembered because he made great product and people saw it. I was right about that too.
He never got what he deserved in the comic book world, despite his great work in television. The fans that hated my work on “Black Panther” attacked his work on the “Fantastic Four” even more, which is hard to imagine. Heavy editorial interference blocked him from writing the “Justice League” storylines he had planned, which were all brilliant.
But none of that matters. Because the work endures and his influence on the industry endures. It’s very chic to celebrate Dwayne now that he’s gone. With the current trendiness of diversity, knockoffs of his work are popping up everywhere. Pretty ironic that white writers would rip off Black creators to tell stories of racial injustice.
Dwayne was a certified genius, a brilliant writer, a giving friend, a loving husband, brother and son.
Dwayne would be very excited by all the nominees for the Diversity Award in his name. They are all terrifically talented authors, and I think he would certainly support the idea of celebrating good work that improves the industry and inspires the fans that have been without representation for far too long. Cause things be changing.
I want to thank Matt Wayne, Charlotte Fullerton and the Long Beach Comic Con for making this happen.
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