Tiffany Haddish had the audience at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards (NYFCC) on Wednesday (03Jan18) in tears of laughter as she gave an epic 17-minute speech after winning the best supporting actress gong.
The actress shot to fame after her scene-stealing appearance in raucous comedy Girls Trip, which broke American box office records smashing the $100 million milestone last year.
Tiffany took to the stage with a cocktail in hand and spoke for almost 20 minutes, thanking friends, giving out life advice, and sharing details of a dark scene cut from the movie.
“First, I want to thank God, because without God my Mom and Daddy wouldn’t have put their two uglies together and made me,” the 38-year-old told the audience, according to Variety. And despite Jada Pinkett Smith previously blasting critics who snubbed the film, Tiffany thanked critics who bothered to see the film for their opinions.
“I don’t care if it’s positive or negative I appreciate you. I’m glad you see me, because it’s been so many years when nobody saw me,” she praised. “When you’re a little kid going through the system you wonder, ‘does anybody even know I’m alive?’ To be able to be this example to so many people like me, that you guys have no clue about, but they’re coming because I keep the f**king door open… The only critics I knew before this were Siskel and Ebert and when they passed I was like ‘Oh well.’”
The 38-year-old went on to explain how she got the role in Girls Trip, sharing that eight crew members from her previous film Keanu sent her the script, pushing her to audition for the film.
“My agent was like ‘Ah, they only want to see names,’ and I was like, ‘You tell them I’ve had a name since 1979.’”
Girls Trip also stars Jada, Tiffany, Queen Latifah and Regina Hall, as four lifelong friends who reunite for a vacation in New Orleans, Louisiana. Jada blasted the Hollywood Foreign Press and Golden Globes voters after they declined to watch the movie which was subsequently overlooked for nominations.
However, Tiffany admitted she’s unfazed by the omission.
“I ain’t worried about that,” she told the New York Daily News, at the event. “Is that going to get me a check?”
