Michael Keaton took the SAG Award audience on an emotional roller coaster during his acceptance speech for Oustanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series.
When fellow actor Salma Hayek announced Keaton as the winner, she was left standing there awkwardly when there was no sign of the winner coming to the stage. After a little vamping by Hayek, Keaton ran through the crowd and actually rolled onto the stage to claim his award for playing Dr. Samuel Finnix in the series “Dopesick.”
“Sorry, a quick trip to the men’s room,” Keaton explained as he accepted his award from Hayek. “It’s packed by the way.”
Keaton joked for another moment or two, but then his tone shifted, to contemplative and then tearful.
He expressed gratitude for being part of “Dopesick,” the Hulu series focused on the opioid crisis in America. In his role as Dr. Finnix, first Keaton portrays a physician who becomes influenced by pharmaceutical companies about Oxycontin’s addictive properties. First, he prescribes the medication, and then, eventually, becomes addicted himself.
In his speech, Keaton said as an actor, he was lucky to have a job that lets him be part of a series that “can spawn thought, conversation, [and] actual change.”
The most emotional moment, though, came as Keaton spoke of his nephew, Michael, to whom he dedicated his award.
“This is for my nephew and my sister Pam,” Keaton said, as he tried to hold back tears. “I lost my nephew Michael to drugs, and it hurts.”
“This is for my sister Pam,” he reiterated. “Thanks.”
You can see Keaton’s full speech below — the SAG Awards shared it on Twitter.
.@MichaelKeaton receives Actor® for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series! #sagawards pic.twitter.com/oay0o96iX8
— SAG Awards® (@SAGawards) February 28, 2022
Back in 2021, Keaton (who was one of the executive producers of “Dopesick”) told The New York Times how his nephew’s death from fentanyl and heroin use motivated him to get involved with the series.
“You become consumed by the addiction,” he said in the Times interview. “It’s soul-sucking. It takes really great people down. I take pride in holding those people accountable for the victims of this opioid crisis.”
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