Kathy Bates, Skye P. Marshall, and more honorees receive their trophies at the 2025 AAFCA TV Awards

The African American Film Critics Association honored the winners of its seventh annual television awards. Among the recipients at the Saturday ceremony were Sterling K. Brown (Paradise) and Kathy Bates (Matlock), both of whom are nominated at the upcoming Emmy Awards. Matlock breakout star Skye P. Marshall was also recognized.

In her acceptance speech, Bates brought the house down when she declared, “Joan Mulholland, one of the white Freedom Riders, said, ‘Y’all means all.’ So, y’all, thanks for inviting me to your cookout.”

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The Oscar-winning actress continued: “I’m grateful to the nearly 200 AAFCA critics across the globe that Matlock has touched your hearts. Your recognition is not just for me, but for the entire team behind Matlock, made up of many diverse voices, perspectives, and backgrounds. You bring the voices of the artists who are being honored here today and the ones you honor throughout the year to the public so that their truth can reach the people all over this country, all over the globe. Truth creates empathy, and empathy is the most powerful human resource we have.”

Sterling K. Brown at the 2025 AAFCA TV AwardsJesse Grant/Variety

At the podium, Brown thanked some of the people closest to him, including his “self-sacrificing” actress wife Ryan Michelle Bathe, his “best in the game” publicist Michael Geiser, and his Paradise costar Krys Marshall.

“One of the things that is truly something that no one who doesn’t walk in my skin will ever understand, and it happened to me this evening as well, is when folks come up to me and say, ‘Brother, thank you for representing us the way that you do.’ I want you to know that sometimes there’s a certain sort of heaviness when you’re the face of things,” said Brown. “But when you do come up to me and you say that to me, it feeds me in ways that you can never possibly imagine.”

On the red carpet, Marshall told Gold Derby, “I broke out! I’m extremely emotional. But how does it feel? It feels deserving. I really did put in the work. I fought for myself. I quit industries multiple times, in order to believe that I could pursue this at 28.” Sterling K. Brown is actually her dream guest star for Matlock Season 2. Even though “that would take a lot of convincing,” Marshall believes he would “absolutely crush it.”

Forever won the most awards on Saturday, taking home three: Best New Show, Best Writing, and Best Director (Anthony Hemingway, Thembi Banks, Mara Brock Akil, and Regina King). The Netflix teen drama is loosely based on the Judy Blume novel of the same name.

Other winning programs included Harlem (Best Comedy), Number One on the Call Sheet (Best Documentary), Gen Zone (Best Reality), The Big Cigar (Best Limited Series), The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat (Best TV Movie), and Bel-Air (Best Ensemble).

Jordin Sparks and Kym Whitley hosted the “California Chic” afternoon gala, which took place at The Blossom Ballroom at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles. All of the TV winners and honorees were previously notified by the African American Film Critics Association.

Jordin Sparks, 2025 AAFCA TV Awards — Jordin Sparks at the 2025 AAFCA TV AwardsJesse Grant/Variety
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Sparks told us that she doesn’t get “nervous” or “scared” prior to hosting an event like this, but she’s “anxious to get up there and do it.” She confessed, “And I love a Teleprompter. Put a Teleprompter in front of me and I’m good to go!” Since awards were the theme of the day, we asked the American Idol winner if there were any projects in her past that should have received more acclaim. Sparks responded that Sparkle, her 2012 musical film, “should have gotten more honors than it did. Whitney Houston was so incredible in that movie, and I thought I did a pretty good job, too!”

Established in 2003, AAFCA is the premier body of Black film critics in the world, actively reviewing film and television, with a particular emphasis on entertainment highlighting the Black experience in the U.S. and throughout the rest of the African Diaspora. Gil Robertson is the president and cofounder.