Similar Stories to Mtv Kept Its Movie & Tv Awards Irreverent But Progressive on Bing News

By SANDY COHEN and FRAZIER MOORE LOS ANGELES (AP) — MTV billed Sunday night’s Movie & TV Awards as the year’s biggest party, but this party also made a serious statement with its new policy of breaking down gender barriers in its new format, as men and women competed jointly in the acting categories. The policy was put into practice by Asia Kate Dillion when she proudly noted she has been able to break down gender barriers as “the first openly non-binary actor to play an openly non-binary actor on a major TV show” (Showtime’s drama series “Billions”), then presented the Best Actor in a Movie award to Emma Watson of “Beauty and the Beast.” A non-binary person is someone who doesn’t identify with either gender. “Acting is about the ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, and that doesn’t need to be separated into two different categories,” Watson said in receiving her award. There was another big difference in the 26th edition of what was formerly known as the MTV Movie Awards: TV shows were newly eligible for Golden Popcorn trophies. The second award of the night — Best Actor in a Show — went to Millie Bobby Brown of Netflix’s “Stranger Things.” Despite glowering skies and dime-size hailstones, MTV was heralding the start of the summer viewing season with its shindig.