Spirit Awards: Winner Idris Elba Shares Award With Abraham Attah

When Idris Elba? was named best supporting male at the Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday, he had his 15-year-old Beasts of No Nation co-star accompany him to the stage.

“I’m not here on my own,” Elba said as he stood alongside Abraham Attah, who took home the award for best male lead later in the night. “I want to share this award with Abraham. [He] is an amazing talent and never done it before — so this is with you, I share this. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

Elba, who failed to earn an Oscar nomination for his role as the Commandant in the African war drama, was one of a handful of snubs to spark the #OscarsSoWhite controversy. Last month, he picked up his first SAG Award for his role in the film, which was Netflix’s first original narrative film. Attah played child soldier Agu.

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During his speech, the actor also thanked Cary Fukunaga, who was nomianted for best director, and Netflix’s Ted Sarandos, joking, “What’s your last name, again?” (a reference to when he called him “Ted Something” during his SAG Awards speech).

During the opening monologue, the night’s co-hosts, Silicon Valley’s Kumail Nanjiani and Saturday Night Live‘s Kate McKinnon, joked about the roundup of this year’s films while mentioning Beast of No Nation, Room and Spotlight. “This year’s nominees cover a wide variety of difficult subjects ranging from child abuse to even worse child abuse,” said Nanjiani.

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Elba beat out Kevin Corrigan (Results),? ?Paul Dano? (Love & Mercy) ?Richard Jenkins? (Bone Tomahawk) and Michael Shannon? (99 Homes).? The Netflix film was also nominated for best feature, as well as best cinematography.

The 31st Independent Spirit Awards, which honor indie titles, were handed out at the Santa Monica Pier and aired on IFC.