When Tiffany Haddish won Best Supporting Actress from the New York Film Critics Circle for her performance in “Girls Trip,” it barely registered with the actress. In fact, she had to inquire with others whether or not it was a big deal.
“I didn’t know [the group] existed,” Haddish told The New York Times. “I had to ask people, ‘What is the importance of it?’ Jada [Pinkett Smith] called me and told me, ‘I’m so proud of you.’ I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ She was like, ‘Girl, it is an honor.’ And I said, ‘Why is it an honor?’ And she said, ‘It’s an honor because they don’t like people.’ I said, ‘Yeah they do, they gotta like somebody.’ And she said, ‘It’s really hard to get in. You did a good job.’ I still had to Google them to try to figure out how prestigious they were.”
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Obviously impressed with what she found out, Haddish made the most of her moment last night at NYFCC’s awards ceremony. The actress delivered an epic, hilarious, eighteen-minute acceptance speech — no one was going to dare play her off the stage, and no one wanted to. Haddish was by turns funny and humble, and thankful for those in the room for giving her career a boost.
“…If you say something, thank you. I don’t care if it’s positive or negative I appreciate you. I’m glad you see me, because it’s been so many years when nobody saw me. When you’re a little kid going through the system you wonder, ‘Does anybody even know I’m alive?’ To be able to be this example to so many people like me, that you guys have no clue about, but they’re coming because I keep the fucking door open,” she said.
Watch the whole thing in full below, courtesy of critic Alison Willmore.