The 26th MTV Movie and TV Awards, held at the Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium earlier this month history as the first gender-free award ceremony.
Men and women competed equally for the first time for the top awards of Best Actor in a Movie and Best Actor in a Show.
While Millie Bobby won the Best Actor in a Show Award for ‘Stranger Things’, Emma Watson walked away with the movie award for her role in ‘Beauty and the Beast’, and said during her acceptance speech:
“Acting is about the ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, and that doesn’t need to be separated into two different categories.”
The MTV Awards have always had a reputation for being a little irreverent, and this year’s show was no exception with several references to the ‘gender-free’ theme by celebrity presenters, such as host Adam Devine declaring, ‘I love Hugh Jackman, but I call him Hugh Jackperson’ and describing the movie Beauty and the Beast as ‘Multidimensional woman with her own dynamic traits, and the beast’.
Winners at the 2017 MTV Movie and TV Awards, which took play on May 7, each received a 24-carat golden popcorn trophy. Designed by New York company Society Awards, the trophy is a replica of the sort of popcorn carton commonly sold in movie theatres. Sitting on a plinth, the engraved awards are handed out for categories from Movie of the Year, Show of the Year and Best Hero, to Best Villain, Best Tearjerker and Best Kiss.
