(L-R) Aaron Pierre, Giancarlo Esposito, Marla Gibbs, Nicole Friday, Keke Palmer, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor and Jeff Friday on the seventh Annual American Black Movie Competition Honors held on the SLS Resort on February 17, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photograph by Gilbert Flores/Selection by way of Getty Pictures) Supply: Aaron J. Thornton / ABFF Honors 2025 Aaron J. Thornton
All the things concerning the 2025 American Black Movie Competition (ABFF) Honors was intentional, even the meals.
Nicole Friday wears many hats, together with movie govt, producer, president of ABFF, and chef. She has performed a key position in increasing the affect and attain of the competition based by her husband, Jeff Friday, in 1997.
When Black Hollywood’s elite descended upon the SLS Resort Beverly Hills for an evening that felt very like an evening of revival at a Baptist church, Friday says the primary objective was to uplift spirits – they usually did simply that.
The night time kicked off with the Victory Bible Church choir, who carried out a rendition of Donald Lawrence and The Tri-Metropolis Singers’ “The Finest Is But To Come,” to pay homage to the lives misplaced within the LA wildfires, significantly the Black group of Altadena, who was severely impacted by the Eaton hearth.
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“We needed everybody to really feel higher and good about being right here and making a celebratory second, so it was essential for us to open on a excessive be aware if you’ll, with the Victory Bible Church choir,” Friday informed MadameNoire.
The second was all part of the bigger course of at hand to proceed making ABFF Honors an occasion that acknowledges vital contributions made by these in the neighborhood that drive the tradition ahead. This 12 months’s honorees included Marla Gibbs who walked away with the Hollywood Legacy Award, Keke Palmer who acquired the Renaissance Award, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor who was topped with the Excellence within the Arts Award, Gincarlo Esposito was the male recipient of that very same award, and final however definitely not least, Aaron Pierre was honored with the Rising Star Award.
“Yearly, some individuals don’t get acknowledged in different mainstream award ceremonies, and we wish to actually dig a bit deeper and never simply go for the people who find themselves in style, and to not say that they’re not deserving, as a result of they’re, however we actually needed to go along with those that might not all the time get acknowledged,” mentioned Friday.
She additionally spoke to how this 12 months’s ceremony was crammed with many full-circle moments. From Keke Palmer returning to obtain an award of her personal after she performed a task in presenting the late Diahann Carroll with the Legacy Award in 2016 to host Zainab Johnson’s relationship with ABFF that began way back.
“We all the time try to have some connective tissue,” Friday mirrored. “Zainab was part of contest for a comedy present we held a few years in the past, and she or he was our first feminine winner. And so we needed to determine methods to carry her again. I assumed she was glorious and did an incredible job. We try to proceed our tales, which truly is about how ABFF Honors began. It stems from the American Black Movie Competition, which, in fact, has been all about dedicating and celebrating individuals who have had achievements and who’re additionally rising within the business.”
(L_R) Nicole Friday, Zanaib Johnson and Jeff Friday on the seventh Annual American Black Movie Competition Honors held on the SLS Resort on February 17, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. Photograph by Aaron J. Thornton / ABFF Honors 2025
As a chef and culinary skilled, Friday went past rigorously deciding on this 12 months’s honorees and host. She was additionally chargeable for curating the ceremony’s menu.
“What was essential for us is that it wasn’t simply one other award ceremony or banquet at a lodge, getting lodge meals, I needed it to be about our heritage, our tradition, our group, which is why the Caribbean southern influences have been impressed within the menu with the collard greens, crimson snapper, and the coconut rice. All of that was very intentional.”
She added, “And even, you already know, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor’s birthday was a couple of days after the ceremony, understanding that it was her birthday and having that second to not solely rejoice her and honor her due to all of her achievements in Hollywood, however to rejoice her life. Having a birthday cake and having that second the place we may sing, in fact, Stevie Marvel’s ‘Glad Birthday’ rendition, was intentional and essential to us.”
As they look forward to the nineteenth 12 months of the Miami competition, Friday says the intentionality doesn’t cease there. In the course of the latest ABFF Honors, Friday shared the information of a continued partnership between ABFF and Ally, with the monetary establishment returning because the presenting sponsor of this summer season’s occasion.
(L-R) Jeff Friday, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor and Nicole Friday attend the seventh Annual American Black Movie Competition Honors at SLS Resort, a Luxurious Assortment Resort, Beverly Hills on February 17, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. Supply: Frazer Harrison / Getty
She additionally revealed that Ally will play an integral position in making the model extra accessible to those that can’t attend the flagship occasion in June in Florida.
“As you’ve heard, we’re kicking off, with our good individuals of Ally, our ABFF Pop-Up Tour this fall, which can go to 4 main cities,” Friday defined.
“All the things that we do is intentional and we wish individuals to really feel welcome, to really feel that they belong, to know that we see that no matter occasion we do, whether or not on the larger scale or the smaller scale, we wish it to really feel like dwelling,” she continued. “We would like it to really feel prefer it’s a reunion. We would like it to really feel prefer it’s a church revival. That’s what we wish, as a result of that’s who we’re, and I feel that begins with the management. I do know that I’m part of that management, nevertheless it does as a result of that’s what we consider and that’s what we really feel, Jeff and I. That’s how we stay our life, whether or not on knowledgeable degree or a private degree, that’s simply who we’re. I feel that intentionality can’t be faked. It may’t be imitated. It must be real, and it must be innate, and that’s what we hope comes throughout with the whole lot that we do.”
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