Outside of the entertainment industry, Janelle Monáe is a force to be reckoned with. At the 40th annual Outfest Legacy Awards, Monáe received the Trailblazer Award in recognition of her continuous generosity and motivational words about living your authentic life.
Monáe stated to the audience as she entered the stage wearing an all-leather outfit and a pointed black cap. She felt like she is in a church, with people that see her, understand her, and get her. The words her needs to use to describe how appreciative and really humbled she is simply escape her. So kindly appreciate her appreciation. She is quite grateful for it.
The annual Outfest festival spotlights the LGBTQ community in the media and incorporates live musical performances by notable guests. It also honors notable changemakers in Hollywood.
While pursuing a career in music, Monáe will appear in the follow-up to Rian Johnson’s 2019 movie “Knives Out,” “Glass Onion: A Knives Out erMystery,” on Netflix. Johnson graciously acknowledged Monáe’s tremendous accomplishments while inviting her on stage to collect the award during the ceremony on October 22.
“It’s not shocking to me that she’s receiving this award, you know, if I open the dictionary in my head and look up the phrase ‘trailblazer,’ it’s just like a gigantic single-page spread of Janelle’s face,” Johnson said. She wants everyone to be able to live freely and honestly since she is a bright example of what it implies. She is an inspiration.
The occasion took place at Paramount Studios and was sponsored by IMDb and Genesis.
The Guardian Award was granted to Glamazon, a volunteer-based network of diverse Amazon employees and supporters, while the Jonathan Howard Award was handed to Outfest’s deputy director, Kerri Stoughton-Jackson.
Monáe talked on the activism of the awardees for the evening and Outfest as a whole while musing on the red carpet. “It’s important for the next generation to realize that I have a community and that there are people working hard to make sure that I’m seen, heard, and present,” she said. Although I think the work they’ve done over the past 40 years has been a great accomplishment, there is still a lot of work to be done.
