Mo Brings Plenty dedicates OKC Western Heritage Award to late nephew Cole Brings Plenty

With eloquent words, a wide smile and a standing ovation from the audience, Mo Brings Plenty recently accepted the inaugural New Horizon Award at the 63rd Annual Western Heritage Awards.

The "Yellowstone" and "Jurassic World Dominion" actor, who is an enrolled Lakota citizen, also emotionally dedicated the award to his late nephew and fellow actor Cole Brings Plenty, who died earlier this month at age 27.

"He was my mini-me, and I still love him. But he was my smile, too," Mo Brings Plenty said in a voice thickened with emotion during the April 13 ceremony at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.

What happened to Cole Brings Plenty?

A fellow actor who appeared on the hit Paramount+ "Yellowstone" spinoff "1923," the younger Brings Plenty was last seen alive March 31 in Lawrence, Kansas, where he was a student at Haskell Indian Nations University.

According to People and NBC News, he went missing as a domestic violence investigation was underway. Mo Brings Plenty, at the time, addressed the allegations in an Instagram post and urged people to avoid "making assumptions."

After a five-day search, Cole Brings Plenty was found dead April 5 near an abandoned vehicle in a wooded area of Johnson County, Kansas. The cause of his death was not revealed.

Hundreds turned out for memorial services for Cole Brings Plenty, who was Mnicouju Lakota and Cheyenne River Sioux, in his tribal home base of South Dakota. Two nights of wake services took place April 14-15 at the Cheyenne-Eagle Butte High School gymnasium, where his funeral also took place April 16, followed by his burial in the Brings Plenty Family Cemetery in Red Scaffold.

His death has caused an outpouring of grief and anger in Indian Country.

In a short press release posted April 10 on Facebook, the Johnson County, Kansas, Sheriff's Office stated that there was "no indication of foul play" in his death.

That same day, Lawrence, Kansas, Police Chief Rich Lockhart issued a statement on Facebook that acknowledged that the "sad series of events has been shared around the world" and responded to criticism over his department's handling of Brings Plenty's case.

“This is a tragic case for everyone involved. Your Police Department worked very hard to investigate the incidents and worked very hard to find Cole. None of us could have imagined this outcome,” Lockhart said in the statement.

“I learned through this series of events that our Police Department must work harder to increase trust with our Native American community members. Through meeting with Cole’s family members and members of our Native American community, I clearly see that we are not where we need to be."

The Lawrence Times reports that one of the organizers of an Indigenous open mic and silent auction for Haskell students traveling to Brings Plenty's memorial services drew parallels to the mourning in the wake of the death of Nex Benedict. Benedict was an Oklahoma teenager of Choctaw descent who died in February after sustaining injuries in an altercation at Owasso High School. Medical examiners later determined Benedict died by suicide.

What else did Mo Brings Plenty say about receiving the New Horizon Award?

Presenting the New Horizon Award during the Western Heritage Awards, Grammy nominee Michael Martin Murphey praised Mo Brings Plenty as a holy man of his people who "embodies within one man the cowboy and Western Heritage which this museum honors."

The New Horizon Award is to be bestowed upon a living person who has shown exceptional promise and made a significant impact in the Western genre while demonstrating the values and integrity of Western culture. In accepting the inaugural honor, Brings Plenty recalled riding horses and praying at a fire during his childhood on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

"As I stand before you, I am very humbled and I am very vulnerable. But I will never take my heart off my sleeve, because that's where I want God to see it. And I want you to see it also," Mo Brings Plenty told the crowd of nearly 1,000 people gathered at the OKC museum.

"Love one another. Protect each other. Remember, it is not a moment that we're judged; it is the life and how we leave others and how we care for each other."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Mo Brings Plenty honors late nephew Cole Brings Plenty at OKC awards