Bad Bunny Won GLAAD Media’s 2023 Vanguard Award, Explaining His Mission To ‘Give And Receive Love’

The 34th annual GLAAD Media Awards was held in Beverly Hills, California on Thursday, March 30. Bad Bunny, Christina Aguilera, and Jeremy Pope were among those honored. Jennifer Coolidge even made a surprise appearance.

Is an awards show really an awards show if Bad Bunny isn’t there? It increasingly feels like the answer is no, and he was recognized at the GLAAD Awards for using his ubiquitous platform to uplift the LGBTQIA+ community.

The Puerto Rican megastar was presented the Vanguard Award by Ricky Martin, who praised Benito as “the most-streamed artist in history is loudly standing with trans women and the entire community” while letting “LGBTQ people dance, sing, love, and live lives authentically” (as relayed by The Hollywood Reporter).

THR also translated Bad Bunny’s acceptance speech from Spanish to English:

“I always say I don’t do anything expecting an award. I don’t do music for an award, I don’t do videos, my appearance [for an award]. I do everything because of how I feel and that’s all I have done. I believe that following my heart has led me to where I am, following my heart has brought me here receiving this award, surrounded by such beautiful people. I believe that when you have a good heart and you give love, that’s what you receive back, and that’s what I’ve wanted to do all this time with my music, with what I represent, with my space, with my concerts, with my shows, with all I do. That’s all I want to do. Give and receive love.”

Aguilera was given GLAAD’s Advocate For Change Award, and Pope received the Stephen F. Kolzak Award. When the honorees were revealed in early February, Variety reported that Aguilera has “helped raise over $500 million toward HIV research with MAC cosmetics,” and GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis explained why Bad Bunny deserved to be this year’s Vanguard recipient.

“Bad Bunny uses his role as one of the world’s most popular music artists to boldly shine a light on LGBTQ people and issues, including transgender equality and ending violence against trans women of color,” Ellis said. “By consistently advocating for our community, elevating our stories, and demanding action from anti-LGBTQ leaders, Bad Bunny redefines the positive influence Latin music artists can have within the LGBTQ community, and has set an example for all artists.”

Previous GLAAD Vanguard recipients include Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez, Cher, and Janet Jackson.

Watch Bad Bunny’s acceptance speech above, and check out footage from the event below.

GLAAD Media Awards To Honor Bad Bunny, Christina Aguilera, And Jeremy Pope

Christina Aguilera, Bad Bunny, and Jeremy Pope will be receiving honors at the 34th annual GLAAD Media Awards. The award show sets to highlight performers, filmmakers, and projects that have had a monumental impact on the LGBTQIA+ Community. Billy Porter, George Takei, Rosie O’Donnell, Anderson Cooper, Ricky Martin, Tom Ford, RuPaul, Samira Wiley, Cynthia Nixon, and more are all previous honorees. This year’s GLAAD Media Awards includes 295 nominees across 33 categories. New categories include Outstanding Podcast and Outstanding Live TV Journalism. The award show will be on March 30 at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles.

Aguilera will accept GLAAD’s Advocate for Change award to honor her activism surrounding HIV and LGBTQIA+ related issues. In the past, Aguilera dedicated her song “Beautiful” to the LGBTQIA+ community. She received recognition for this dedication at the 2003 GLAAD Media awards. Aguilera then continued her advocacy, helping to raise over $500 million for HIV Research with MAC cosmetics. She also launched her own Pride merchandise collections in 2021 and 2022. Additionally, she performs incredible sets at pride events for LGBTQIA+ fans.

The GLAAD Media Awards

Christina Aguilera attends The 23rd Annual Latin Grammy Awards at Michelob ULTRA Arena on November 17, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Manny Hernandez/Wireimage)

Bad Bunny will receive GLAAD’s Vanguard Award for his allyship to the LGBTQIA+ community. He has a long history of using his large-scale platform to uplift marginalized voices. Particularly, he has a history of using his voice to advocate for transgender issues and transgender women of color. According to Variety, Bad Bunny will join many other elite honorees, such as Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Brittany Spears, Cher, Janet Jackson, and Jennifer Lopez.

“By consistently advocating for our community, elevating our stories and demanding action from anti-LGBTQ leaders, Bad Bunny redefines the positive influence Latin music artists can have within the LGBTQ community, and has set an example for all artists.”

Sarah Kate Ellis, GLAAD president and CEO

Pope will receive the Stephen F. Kolzak award from GLAAD. The award is given to a media professional in the LGBTQIA+ community who has increased LGBTQIA+ visibility and acceptance through their work. Furthermore, Pope’s extensive on-screen performances include groundbreaking queer roles, such as Ellis French in The Inspection and Christopher in the FX series, Pose. Stay tuned to HNHH for more news from the entertainment world.

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Lil Nas X Wins Outstanding Music Artist At The 2022 GLAAD Media Awards

Last month, Lil Nas X brought his talents to the 2022 Grammy Awards where he was nominated in five categories. While he gave exciting and energetic performances of “Industry Baby” and “Montero” at the show, Lil Nas would end the night without a new Grammy award to call his own. Lucky for him, less than a month later, Lil Nas is back to his winning ways as he took home a trophy at the 2022 GLAAD Media Awards. During the second half of the awards Friday night, which comes after the first half was held on April 2, Lil Nas won the Outstanding Music Artist award.

It’s the second time in three years that Lil Nas has been graced with the award after he won it for the first time back in 2020. With the win, Lil Nas X becomes the eighth repeat winner of that award in the show’s history. Melissa Etheridge, Rufus Wainwright, K.D. Lang, and Scissor Sisters have won it three times while Indigo Girls, Lady Gaga, and Tegan and Sara have won the award two times.

The news comes after Lil Nas announced the Long Live Montero Tour which will kick off on September 6 in Detroit and continue for two months before coming to a close in Spain on November 17.