The Heartbreaking Moment Chadwick Boseman Broke Down About Two Of His Fans Battling Cancer
Since its release in February 2018, Black Panther has earned the entire cast a lot of praise, specifically Chadwick Boseman, who played the title character. Boseman became a hero for Black children who wanted to see a character who looked like them on the big screen, and they got that with King T'Challa, a king who brings good to his people. While promoting the movie a few days before its release, the cast did an interview with SiriusXM in which Boseman spoke of two young fans who had recently passed from cancer.
There were two boys, Ian and Taylor, whom Boseman kept in touch with while filming Black Panther. "Throughout our filming, I was communicating with them, knowing that they were both terminal," he said on SiriusXM. "What they said to me, and what their parents said, is they're trying to hold on till this movie comes." Boseman went on to describe what an immense responsibility he felt he had with this movie, knowing how important it was to so many people, young people especially. He likened those boys' feelings to how he felt when he was a child, looking forward to Christmas and his birthday.
But when Boseman recounted the fact that the boys had both passed, he got choked up and struggled to speak. And while this moment was touching in 2018, it's even more touching now that the world knows that Boseman himself was also battling cancer at the time — a battle he lost on Aug. 28, 2020.
Chadwick Boseman was a hero to so many Black fans
The two boys Chadwick Boseman spoke of during his SiriusXM interview in 2018 were just two of the many lives he touched with his work. Shortly after the release of Black Panther, Boseman took part in a video for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. While Boseman hid behind a screen, fans were invited to share messages with the actor about what this role meant to them. One man thanked Boseman for being a "hero that we really need in a time like this," and when Boseman stepped out to surprise him, the man immediately did the Wakanda salute, bowed, and called him "my king" before embracing him in a hug.
A mom and her son also stepped forward to thank Boseman, and the mom cited Barack Obama and Black Panther as the icons for her son, which are huge words to share with the actor. And when Boseman stepped out to speak to them, the son simply stood there in shock, seemingly overcome with surprise at meeting King T'Challa himself.
Boseman was hailed for years as an exceedingly talented actor in all the roles he took on. While every single one of them was important to his fans, it was his role in Black Panther that truly allowed him to leave a mark on Hollywood and on the lives of so many fans across the world.