A heartfelt speech was shared by Ralph, 66 after she made her way to the stage and thanked the late Sidney Poitier for believing in her talent.
“Ever mistake every back break, every ‘No’, every rejection in an industry that when I was 19 years old was quick to tell me there was no place for me,” an emotional Ralph began. “Sidney Poitier looked at me and said, ‘You’re a damn good actress.’”
“That God could lead me to a moment when a young woman by the name of Quinta Brunson would look at me and say, ‘Ms. Ralph, I’m not sleeping on your talent,’” she continued, before praising her costars and crew on Abbott Elementary as “the best cast on TV.”
Ralph then concluded, “To all of you watching, come close to the screen and listen. People don’t have to like you, people don’t have to love you, people don’t even have to respect you. But when you look in the mirror, you better love what you see!”
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“People don’t have to like you.” -Sheryl Lee Ralph #CriticsChoiceAwards2023 #CriticsChoiceAwards pic.twitter.com/Vgbz43Xrdm
— Reshma Gopaldas (@reshingbull) January 16, 2023


