Before Naomi Ackie won the award for supporting performance at the 2026 Independent Spirit Awards, Kumail Nanjiani pointed out that only one white man was nominated in the category, going on to joke about the demographic’s “comeback.”
“I’m here to present the award for best supporting actor performance. We have 10 nominees, and this year’s nominees include only one white man,” he began. “Ha ha, your time is over, white man.”
“I’m joking, you guys came back. Wow, what a comeback you guys had,” he said, as the audience responded in laughter. “I’ll be honest, we had counted you out. And you showed us. We thought it was our time, we were wrong.”
“It is not our time. It is still your time,” the comedian continued, sharing congratulations “to almost everyone here.” Nanjiani then declared that he was “gonna join your ranks from now on,” pronouncing, “I’m a white guy.”
“My name is now Chris Male, and I’m gonna start a podcast where I tell it like it is. And I’m eating Erewhon for lunch and dinner,” he joked. “Oh God, this does feel good. You guys just walk around feeling like this all the time?”
Nanjiani admitted that he was “joking” because “obviously I cannot pass.” He continued, “And now that you white men have wrested power back from us, let me be the first to say I was always your biggest fan. I never stopped believing in you. You are doing a great job.”
“You have always done a great job, and I would like to stay in the country,” he added, a reference to ongoing deportations in the United States. Nanjiani then announced Ackie, who was not in attendance, as the best supporting performance winner.
Ackie was nominated for her work in Sorry, Baby alongside the likes of Zoey Deutch (Nouvelle Vague), Kirsten Dunst (Roofman), Rebecca Hall (Peter Hujar’s Day), Nina Hoss (Hedda), Jane Levy (A Little Prayer), Archie Madekwe (Lurker), Kali Reis (Rebuilding), Jacob Tremblay (Sovereign) and Haipeng Xu (Blue Sun Palace).
The Spirit Awards were hosted by Ego Nwodim on Sunday at the Hollywood Palladium. The ceremony streamed live on the Film Independent and IMDb YouTube channels.
Heading into Sunday night’s awards ceremony, Peter Hujar’s Day topped the nominations list for the film sector with five total noms while Adolescence, Forever and Mr Loverman led with four nominations each for television.
See all the sparkly blue carpet looks here and the full 2026 Spirit Awards winners list here.
