Janelle Monáe was the visitor of honor on the 2023 Critics’ Alternative Awards on Sunday night time. The 37-year-old actor and singer obtained the SeeHer Award, which honors “a lady who advocates for gender equality, portrays characters with authenticity, defies stereotypes, and pushes boundaries,” per the Critics’ Alternative Affiliation. Previous recipients embrace Viola Davis (2017), Gal Gadot (2018), Claire Foy (2019), Kristen Bell (2020), Zendaya (2021), and Halle Berry (2022).

Monáe started her acceptance speech by introducing themself, saying, “I am Janelle Monáe and my pronouns are she/her/they/them and free-ass motherf*cker.” The actor then dished out some phrases of knowledge to the viewers, saying, “There have been so many occasions in my life the place I didn’t see me. I could not see my gentle. I could not see previous my circumstances. If my story, I wasn’t purported to make it out of Kansas Metropolis, Kansas, and be right here tonight. I wasn’t. I did not see the imaginative and prescient clearly for myself. I could not see my reward. I could not see what my objective was purported to be at the moment, however thanks God, so many different individuals did.”

The actor continued, “They did not surrender on me. They gave me alternatives, regardless of my very own insecurity. I used to be faking it until I made it. So to anybody on the market like me watching proper now, I simply need you to know that I see you, however I problem you to see you.”

Along with the SeeHer honor, Monáe scored a nomination for greatest supporting actress for her position as Helen in “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Thriller.” Additionally nominated within the class have been Angela Bassett (“Black Panther: Wakanda Perpetually”), Jessie Buckley (“Girls Speaking”), Kerry Condon (“The Banshees of Inisherin”), Jamie Lee Curtis (“The whole lot In every single place All at As soon as”), and Stephanie Hsu (“The whole lot In every single place All at As soon as”).