Marvel Studios(LOS ANGELES) — The tweet sent by Chadwick Boseman’s official account announcing his passing has become the most-liked of all time, according to Twitter.
The tweet included a black-and-white photo of the actor, along with a statement about his four-year battle with colon cancer, which he worked through while filming movies such as Da 5 Bloods, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Marshall. It also noted that it was the “honor of his career” to star as King T’Challa in Marvel’s Black Panther.
Fans on Twitter have also been working to organize Black Panther Twitter watch parties using the #BlackPanther and #WakandaForever hashtags, so Twitter has reactivated its original Black Panther emoji for the occasion.
Meanwhile, tonight at 8 p.m. ET, ABC will air Black Panther commercial free, followed by the ABC News special Chadwick Boseman — A Tribute for a King, which will air from 10:20 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET.
It will feature the tributes to Bosman that have poured in from fellow actors, politicians and fans across the world, as well as comments from his co-stars and those who knew him best.
In an interview with ABC’s Popcorn with Peter Travers when Black Panther was first released, Boseman admitted that as a kid, he wasn’t aware of the character that would make him a household name, but recognized its importance later in life.
“It was not a superhero that I really knew as a kid,” Boseman told Travers of T’Challa. “I was introduced to it in college. And once I, y’know, saw how how powerful it was — you know, I wasn’t thinking about me playing it, but I knew it would be cool if it was ever done one day.”
During that same interview, Boseman also delivered a soulful rendition of the Bill Withers classic “Grandma’s Hands.”
By Andrea Dresdale
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