Oprah Winfrey and Niecy Nash-Betts to be Honored at GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles

Oprah Winfrey and Niecy Nash-Betts have a date with GLAAD.

The organization announced Tuesday that the pair is booked for special honors at the GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles on March 14. Winfrey has been tapped to receive a Vanguard Award “for championing allyship and making a significant difference in promoting acceptance of LGBTQ people and issues.” Previous honorees include Bad Bunny, Beyoncé and Jay-Z, Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears, Kerry Washington, Cher, Janet Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor, Kacey Musgraves and Antonio Banderas.

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Nash-Betts will take home a Stephen F. Kolzak Award for raising the visibility of LGBTQ people and issues as a member of the community. Previous recipients include Jeremy Pope, Laverne Cox, Wanda Sykes, Jim Parsons, Ruby Rose, Chaz Bono, Melissa Etheridge, Ellen DeGeneres and Michaela Jaé Rodriguez.

Hosted by Wayne Brady, the GLAAD Media Awards will take place at the Beverly Hilton. Stars expected to appear at the event include Rodriguez, Alexandra Shipp, Daniel Franzese, Meredith Marks, Heather Dubrow, Jason Sudeikis, Jonathan Bailey, Matt Bomer, Michelle Visage, Victoria Monét and others. David Archuleta, a GLAAD nominee for outstanding breakthrough music artist, is booked to perform at the official after-party presented by Hyundai Motor America.

Winfrey has a long history with GLAAD. She was nominated at the first GLAAD Media Awards in 1990 for the miniseries The Women of Brewster Place, which she executive produced and starred in. The Oprah Winfrey Show snagged 15 noms in the outstanding talk show episode category, winning a total of nine times. Other trophies came for the OWN documentary Becoming Chaz, OWN’s Oprah’s Next Chapter and for an interview with actor Elliot Page on Apple TV+’s The Oprah Conversation, among others.

“At a time when it was potentially career-ending to support LGBTQ people, Oprah Winfrey did what’s right and championed our community’s stories,” said GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis. “A pioneer for diverse and inclusive media, she has shined a powerful light on HIV, on LGBTQ families and on coming out, which educated and moved countless around the world. When Oprah speaks, the world listens and our community cherishes her as an unapologetic ally, especially to transgender people. Winfrey’s commanding career will forever align her on the right side of history.”

Nash-Betts, who recently won an Emmy for her work in Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, currently stars in Ava DuVernay’s Origin. She hosted the GLAAD Media Awards in 2021, not long after she married her wife, Jessica Betts. “Opening doors both as a Black and queer woman, Niecy Nash-Bett’s outstanding legacy as a performer gives new meaning to the term trailblazer,” said Ellis. “Her decades-long career is owed to her empathy, talent and authenticity, which undoubtedly inform each move she makes as an activist and every role she portrays onscreen.”

The 35th Annual GLAAD Media Awards are presented by Gilead Sciences, Inc. and Hyundai with additional support from Hornitos, Delta Air Lines and Sony Music Group. The full list of this year’s nominees can be found here.

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