On May 7^th, 2017, MTV hosted the MTV Movie and TV Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. All of the awards given, were gender neutral which is a huge step forward away from the rest of Hollywood and awards programs. Many people won awarded and made wonderful speeches, but two people stood out the most: Emma Watson and Millie Bobby Brown. Watson and Brown both received . They both made heartwarming and tearful speeches afterwards.

Emma Watson, in her speech, said that “acting is about the ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. And that doesn’t need to be separated into two categories.” After this was said she thanked Asia, Kate Dillion for helping educate her. Watson said a little later in her speech that she believes she was awarded this award because of who she played and what her character stands for.

“The villagers in our fairy tale wanted to make Belle believe that the world is smaller than the way she saw it, with fewer opportunities for her—that her curiosity and passion for knowledge and her desire for more in life were grounds for alienation. I loved playing someone who didn’t listen to any of that. I’m so proud to be a part of a film that celebrates diversity, literacy, inclusion, joy, and love the way that this one does,” said Watson. Watson, during her speech, kept from crying while Brown is another story.

When Brown accepted her award, she had a very emotional rollercoaster. On stage, she thanked many people including her family, friends, crew, her publishers and many more. She could hardly contain her tears, but was still smiling and making jokes throughout the speech. At one moment during the speech, she was “drawing a blank” on who to thank next. With both Brown’s and Watson’s speeches, lots of people both at home and in the audience had tears in their eyes.

Society, in response to the gender neutral awards, didn’t react how many thought they would. After the awards were given, twitter exploded. So many people said that they loved the idea of having gender neutral awards to include more people and not down grade the acting skills. Twitter also felt that both speeches from Watson and Brown were well put together and emotional.

Emma Schickling, a freshman, thinks “It’s really cool that our society has come to realize everyone is equal and there needs to be no separation.”