Issa Rae Celebrates All Things Black During NAACP Speech

The Academy Awards and Emmys are nice, but for Issa Rae, it’s the NAACP Image Awards that means the most to her, by far.

During her acceptance speech after winning the award for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series for her role in Insecure, the multi-hyphenated actress, producer, and writer said the win is very important to her because it’s validation by Black people.

“It means the world to me. It’s the only validation that matters, Black people’s validation. I appreciate NAACP for honoring us,” she explained.

Rae also acknowledged how stacked the field was for this particular category as she won beating out Tracee Ellis Ross (Black-ish), Regina Hall (Black Monday), Folake Olowofoyeku (Bob Hearts Abishola) and Yara Shahidi (Grown-ish). 

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“I would love to thank Tracee Ellis Ross for losing–bad b*****s don’t lose that often,” she joked. “Thank you HBO for believing in me.”

After her acceptance speech, Rae spoke with BET.com about how her signature series helped launch so many new opportunities for her and others who were a part of the Insecure cast.

“Insecure has been the gateway. [Producer] Prentice Penny and I were just talking two days ago, just how we, at least I didn’t imagine season 1 would lead to so many opportunities and he kind of felt like, you know, we didn’t know it would get this far, but he had an inkling,” she said. 

“It’s just been such an experience, such a launch pad for so many of our careers in a way that I never imagined, but I’m so grateful.”

Watch her Issa Rae’s virtual acceptance speech at the 52nd annual NAACP Image Awards below.