Sinners Runs the Table — and Michael B. Jordan Crowns a Historic Night
ENTERTAINMENT | AWARDS | FILM February 28, 2026 · Pasadena Civic Auditorium
Photo Credit : Getty Images
“I love being Black. I love y’all.” — Michael B. Jordan, Entertainer of the Year
The 57th NAACP Image Awards didn’t just celebrate Black excellence on Friday night — it declared it, loudly and without apology. From the moment Ryan Coogler’s Sinners began sweeping the room at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, it was clear this would be a night written into the history books.
Hosted by comedian Deon Cole and broadcast live on BET and CBS, the ceremony — themed “We See You” — delivered exactly what those words promised: visibility, validation, and victory for Black storytelling at its finest.
SINNERS MAKES HISTORY
Entering with a record-breaking 18 nominations — more than any film in the ceremony’s history — Sinners left nothing on the table. By the end of the night, Coogler’s blues-soaked supernatural thriller had claimed 13 awards, shattering the previous record held by The Color Purple (2023).
Its wins spanned the full breadth of filmmaking craft:
- Outstanding Motion Picture
- Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture — Michael B. Jordan
- Outstanding Supporting Actor — Delroy Lindo
- Outstanding Supporting Actress — Wunmi Mosaku
- Outstanding Director — Ryan Coogler
- Outstanding Writing — Ryan Coogler
- Outstanding Breakthrough Performance — Miles Caton
- Outstanding Ensemble Cast
- Outstanding Cinematography
- Outstanding Costume Design — Ruth E. Carter
- Outstanding Original Score
- Outstanding Soundtrack
- Outstanding Stunt Ensemble
This wasn’t a sweep. This was a coronation.
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: THE NIGHT BELONGED TO HIM
If Sinners was the story of the evening, Michael B. Jordan was its undisputed lead.
The actor — who plays dual roles as twin brothers Smoke and Stack in the film — walked away with two of the night’s biggest prizes: Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture and the coveted Entertainer of the Year, presented by Toyota.
His speeches stopped the room cold.
Accepting Outstanding Actor, Jordan delivered a deeply personal tribute to his late Black Panther co-star and friend Chadwick Boseman, weaving together themes of legacy, presence, and the responsibility that comes with platform. There wasn’t a dry eye in the building.
But it was his Entertainer of the Year moment that the internet will not soon forget.
Jordan revealed that as a 15-year-old, he used to sneak in through the back door of these very awards just to be in the building — dreaming of one day belonging to that world. Standing on the same stage, decades later, a double winner, the full-circle weight of the moment was palpable.
He closed his speech with six words that became an instant cultural rallying cry — widely read as a joyful, direct response to a widely-discussed racial incident involving himself and co-star Delroy Lindo at the BAFTAs just days prior:
“I love being Black. I love y’all.”
The room erupted. The internet followed.
RYAN COOGLER: THREE FOR THREE
Director Ryan Coogler is now in a league of his own. With Sinners, he has now directed three films that have each won Outstanding Motion Picture at the NAACP Image Awards — joining Fruitvale Station and Black Panther in that lineage.
Accepting his directing and writing awards, Coogler spoke with conviction about truth and representation, reminding the room that no lie, however loud, can stand forever against the truth — and that Black people are “loved, beautiful, and powerful.”
With Sinners also leading the Oscar race with a record-breaking 16 Academy Award nominations, the film’s cultural moment shows no sign of slowing.
THE REST OF THE NIGHT’S WINNERS
The dominance of Sinners didn’t dim the brilliance of other honorees. It was a full and generous evening.
Film
- Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture — Cynthia Erivo, Wicked: For Good
Television
- Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series — Sterling K. Brown, Paradise
- Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series — Angela Bassett, 9-1-1
- Abbott Elementary collected five wins across the week’s non-televised categories
Special Honors
- Chairman’s Award — Viola Davis
- President’s Award — Colman Domingo
- Hall of Fame Inductees — Salt-N-Pepa with DJ Spinderella
- A moving tribute to the late civil rights icon Rev. Jesse Jackson was led by Samuel L. Jackson
Sterling K. Brown used his moment at the podium to directly address the current political climate’s assault on diversity and equity programs, delivering one of the night’s most politically charged speeches to a standing ovation.
Viola Davis, never one to mince words, accepted the Chairman’s Award with a commanding declaration about legacy, resistance, and what it means to be a Black woman in America right now.
MORE THAN AN AWARDS SHOW
What made the 57th NAACP Image Awards resonate beyond the usual awards-season noise was its timing and its tone. At a moment when diversity, equity, and representation are under attack in institutions across the country, this room — this night — pushed back with joy, with excellence, and with purpose.
Sinners is not just a box office phenomenon or an awards darling. It is a film made by and for Black audiences, rooted in Black history, Black music, and Black survival — and it was recognized as such on the grandest stage available to it.
Michael B. Jordan’s tears, Ryan Coogler’s words, Viola Davis’s fire — none of it felt like performance. It felt like testimony.
And that, more than any trophy, is what the NAACP Image Awards at their best are meant to deliver.
57th NAACP Image Awards – Preshow
The 57th NAACP Image Awards aired February 28, 2026, on BET and CBS. 🎬 Watch Michael B. Jordan’s Entertainer of the Year speech: Search “Michael B. Jordan NAACP 2026” on YouTube or BET.com
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