Comedian Godfrey used a five-minute Instagram video to make a blunt case: Black entertainers should stop chasing validation at historically white awards shows and instead build and fund our own institutions. 

His urging landed in the wake of the controversy at the BAFTA Awards and followed a widely praised showing at the NAACP Image Awards, which Godfrey singled out as an example of a Black-centered celebration that respects the work. 

“I think we should have our own thing and stop going to these things, stop getting validation from these motherf—kers,” Godfrey said on Instagram, before pivoting to the food industry as an example of exclusion. “It’s the same thing with the food industry. They don’t want to give a Michelin star to Tatiana, a Nigerian restaurant which has been killing it in New York City… f—k them!” He also wrote in the post’s caption, “Black people, it’s time we stop going to [these] award shows and other platforms looking for validation and create our own stuff. We have enough millionaires & billionaires to do it.” 

Godfrey’s POV is not new — calls for cultural self-determination echo back decades — but his timing is pointed. The comedian bigged up the NAACP Image Awards for recent speeches (Angela Basset, Viola Davis, Michael B. Jordan) and representation while arguing that a sustained investment in Black awards would protect dignity and center Black taste, not white gatekeepers. He proposed naming new awards after icons such as Sidney Poitier or James Earl Jones to honor legacy while building infrastructure. 

Whether the industry responds with funding, new events, or renewed focus on existing Black institutions, Godfrey’s message is clear: the argument isn’t that Black artists should never attend mainstream ceremonies, it’s that Black artists and leaders should also invest in celebrations that are accountable to their communities.