Being friends with Jada Pinkett Smith certainly has its perks... just ask Tiffany Haddish!
During the MTV Movie & TV Awards at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California, Haddish presented her bestie with the prestigious Trailblazer Award. Needless to say, the comedian's intro speech was one of the funniest of the night, as she joked about always asking her Girls' Trip co-star for cash.
"I don't mean to brag but my friend Jada Pinkett Smith is the recipient of the Trailblazer Award" Haddish began. "That's my friend. She's taken us to Madagascar and into The Matrix. You can even say her career has been one crazy Girl's Trip. See what I did there? Just call me Jada Pinkett Pedia Smith."
"Starring in some of my favorite TV shows and movies isn't what makes her a trailblazer," Haddish continued. "Neither is the fact that she's dedicated years of her life and much of her own dollars and time to to help those less fortunate than herself with the Will and Jada Pinkett Smith Foundation. She's the one everyone who knows her goes to -- that's why I always ask her if I can have some money. It's the fact that she's never stopped pushing boundaries. She doesn't know the meaning of the word 'No,' which is also why I ask her for money. But I always ask for small amounts!"
All jokes aside, however, Haddish couldn't say enough amazing things about Pinkett Smith and all the remarkable barriers she's been breaking with her massively successful Facebook Watch series, Red Table Talk.
"Now, in addition to all that and raising two of the coolest kids in the world [Jaden and Willow], she's decided to raise the bar once again." Haddish raved. "Her Red Table Talk series is setting the standard for talk shows in this next century and bringing together generations for conversations about everything from God to sex to race -- it's serious. She's not making a talk show, she's making a show with real talk and I'm all about that. And to top it off, she's married to the real-life Prince ... the Prince of Bel-Air [Will Smith]. She's an actor and a philanthropist, a boss, a mom and somehow after being in the game for almost 30 years, she still looks 28."
A package then played with kind words from other celebrities, like Alicia Keys, who called Pinkett Smith a "true force of nature."
"She is a powerful voice for women," Keys added. "There's not a soul that has ever met Jada and hasn't been transformed by her."
Queen Latifah also weighed in, marveling over the way Pinkett Smith makes Red Table Talk a "safe place" for all her guests. "A lot of people really need to hear some of these topics that are being discussed," she explained. "She'll let you know how she feels. You can't tame Jada, she's just real."
Following a round of applause from the audience, Pinkett Smith took the stage with son Jaden by her side. "It's a trip because when MTV called me to receive an award for trailblazing I was like, 'Alright, I don't know if I deserve this quite yet but I'm really glad MTV thinks so,' so thank you," she said. "But then I had to think, 'Jada, why don't you think you deserve this award?' It was because I was comparing myself to all the many trailblazers that I admire and I realized maybe we do have something in common."
"Often we applaud the trails people blaze in the external world, that we can see, but very rarely do we applaud the trails that are blazed in the hidden rooms of the mind that are full of uncertainty, false beliefs and pain and it's these internal obstacles that must be challenged, in order to muster the courage to forge new paths that we can see in the world," she continued. "Every last person in this world must do that at some capacity, so that means that every single person in this room is trailblazing whether it's within or without. So, as you honor me tonight, I want to honor all of you. And I want to say, here's to us for all of our trailblazing. Keep it up and thank you!"
Hear more on the Smith family in the video below.
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