And marked the occasion with another empowering speech
The MTV Movie & TV Awards took place in Los Angeles on Sunday night, with the 2017 ceremony making history.
Unlike previous years, MTV combined the male and female nominees in a non-binary category, 'Best Actor In A Movie', with Emma Watson winning the first ever gender neutral award.
Winning the prize for her role as Belle in Beauty in the Beast, Emma took to the stage to give an inspirational speech.
‘The first acting award in history that doesn’t separate nominees based on their sex says something about how we perceive the human experience,’ she announced to the crowd. ‘MTV’s move to create a genderless award for acting will mean something different to everyone. But to me it indicates that acting is about the ability to put yourself into someone else’s shoes and that doesn’t have to be separated into two different categories.’
After laughing about how difficult she found the singing and dancing during filming, she explained how she didn’t feel that she had been given the award for her acting, explaining ‘I think I’m being given this award because of who Belle is and what she represents.’
‘The villagers in our fairytale wanted to make Belle believe the world was smaller than the way that she saw it, with fewer opportunities for her…I love playing someone who didn’t listen to any of that.’
She continued: ‘Empathy and the ability to use your imagination should have no limits.’
Emma’s recognition and speech was met mostly by online support, but there are still those who found the award and speech a bit unnecessary, namely Piers Morgan, scoffing ‘Gender neutral awards – just what the world was craving’.
Dangerous move Piers, if you fall out with Emma Watson you fall out with everyone.
