--- title: MTV Movie Awards 2017: Moonlight Stars Win Best Kiss description: Moonlight continued its impressive awards season run Sunday night, picking up the honor for Best Kiss at the 2017 MTV Movie & TV Awards. canonical: https://time.com/4770528/mtv-movie-awards-2017-moonlight-best-kiss/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-08T15:06:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:43:24.886Z og:title: Moonlight Stars Dedicate Best Kiss Award to 'Misfits' og:description: The two actors snagged the MTV Movie & TV Awards honor og:url: https://time.com/4770528/mtv-movie-awards-2017-moonlight-best-kiss/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbd208efd5da120be/6988cc5397cdff394a6b0977/moonlight-mtv-movie-awards.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 2017 MTV Movie And TV Awards - Moonlight og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Moonlight Stars Dedicate Best Kiss Award to 'Misfits' twitter:description: The two actors snagged the MTV Movie & TV Awards honor twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbd208efd5da120be/6988cc5397cdff394a6b0977/moonlight-mtv-movie-awards.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # _Moonlight_ Stars Dedicate MTV Best Kiss Award to 'Those Who Feel Like the Misfits'  by [Megan McCluskey](/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer May 8, 2017 3:06 PM CUT  Ashton Sanders (L) and Jharrel Jerome, winners of Best Kiss for 'Moonlight', accept award onstage during the 2017 MTV Movie And TV Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Ashton Sanders (L) and Jharrel Jerome, winners of Best Kiss for 'Moonlight', accept award onstage during the 2017 MTV Movie And TV Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.Frazer Harrison/MTV1617/Getty Images  by [Megan McCluskey](/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer May 8, 2017 3:06 PM CUT [_Moonlight_](http://time.com/4684596/moonlight-florida-history/ "undefined")continued its [impressive awards season](http://time.com/4683998/oscars-2017-moonlight-la-la-land-mix-up/ "undefined") run Sunday night, picking up the honor for Best Kiss at the [2017 MTV Movie & TV Awards](http://time.com/4770023/2017-mtv-movie-tv-awards/ "undefined"). Stars Ashton Sanders and Jharrel Jerome — who played the teenage versions of Chiron and Kevin, respectively — took the stage together to accept the popcorn trophy, delivering heartfelt speeches about the emotional moment. “On a real note I think it is safe to say that it is okay for us young performers, especially us minority performers, to step out of the box,” Jerome said of acting in the Best Picture winner. “It’s okay for us to step out of the box and do whatever it takes to tell the story and whatever it takes to make the change.” “This award is bigger than Jharrel and I,” Sanders added. “This represents more than a kiss, it represents those who feel like the others, the misfits — this represents us.” The duo beat out _La La Land_‘s Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, _Beauty and the Beast_‘s Emma Watson and Dan Stevens, _Empire_‘s Taraji P. Henson and Terrence Howard, and _Mike & Dave Need Wedding Dates_‘ Zac Efron and Anna Kendrick for the award. Watch the clip below. \[fortune-brightcove videoid=5355236505001\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4770528/mtv-movie-awards-2017-moonlight-best-kiss/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4770528/mtv-movie-awards-2017-moonlight-best-kiss/"},"headline":"Moonlight Stars Dedicate MTV Best Kiss Award to 'Those Who Feel Like the Misfits'","datePublished":"2017-05-08T15:06:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:43:24.886Z","description":"\"This represents more than a kiss\"","url":"https://time.com/4770528/mtv-movie-awards-2017-moonlight-best-kiss/","keywords":["Newsfeed","movies","moonlight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbd208efd5da120be/6988cc5397cdff394a6b0977/moonlight-mtv-movie-awards.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbd208efd5da120be/6988cc5397cdff394a6b0977/moonlight-mtv-movie-awards.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2017 MTV Movie And TV Awards - Moonlight","caption":"Ashton Sanders (L) and Jharrel Jerome, winners of Best Kiss for 'Moonlight', accept award onstage during the 2017 MTV Movie And TV Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on May 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.","creditText":"Frazer Harrison/MTV1617/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4770528/mtv-movie-awards-2017-moonlight-best-kiss/","name":"Moonlight Stars Dedicate MTV Best Kiss Award to 'Those Who Feel Like the Misfits'"}}]}] ```