Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) will honor the life, work, and legacy of Chadwick Boseman at their upcoming fundraising telecast. The beloved actor died in 2020 at the age of 43 following a private battle with colon cancer.
The celebration will feature a special tribute from Boseman’s widow Simone and host Anthony Anderson.
The organization opted to honor him to revere him for not just his work as an actor, but also his work behind the scenes as a writer, director and activist of stories of integrity.
Boseman is known to portray key figures in Black history and bring stories to life that highlight the Black experience in a positive light. Some of the work he’s most known for includes starring as Jackie Robinson in 42, James Brown in Get On Up, Thurgood Marshall in Marshall, and T’Challa in Black Panther. The latter received critical acclaim, breaking global box office records, and influenced a large social and cultural movement. Black Panther received seven Academy Award nominations, including one for the Marvel genre’s first-ever Best Picture nomination.
For the role, Boseman won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture, and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture alongside the film’s ensemble.
The event announcement notes that colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among men and women combined in the United States. According to an official press release for the event, Black people in the U.S. are 20 percent more likely to be diagnosed with colon cancer and 40 percent more likely to die from it. Routine screening and early detection of colorectal cancer is helpful for treatment and makes it beatable in 90 percent of cases. The organization continues to fund research to raise awareness and funds to promote colorectal cancer screenings, early detection and prevention.
The event will air simultaneously on more than 60 participating platforms in the U.S. and Canada on Saturday, August 21 at 8 p.m. ET & PT / 7 p.m. CT from LA. It will also be available for streaming live and on-demand on several streaming platforms.
