-But lookie here. This is like...
[ Cheers and applause ]
First of all, I mean...
Why did you -- Why are you doing this, dude?
You know you're gonna lose this eventually, right?
Now you got to maintain this.
You got to take your shirt off everywhere now.
-Yeah, you got to remember when, you know?
-Remember when.
-Yeah, you've got to remember when.
-That's true.
Yeah, it's a good time to be you right now.
In the article, there's a great thing.
They talked about you studying acting.
You got to study in Oxford in London?
-Right. Right. Yeah.
I did an exchange while I was at Howard over summer.
A group of us from Howard did it.
So Phylicia Rashad actually was --
She basically taught a class once a week
while we were at Howard,
and then she wanted us to do this exchange,
so she got -- and I didn't have money to pay for this.
So she got a few of her friends together, and you know,
they paid for us to go.
-That's awesome.
And then you found out who one of her friends...
-Yeah, I didn't know at first.
When I came back --
and I basically have been holding this secret
my whole career.
When I came back, I got a beneficiary letter
and it said, "Denzel Washington paid for you."
And I was like...
-[ Awws ]
I was like, "What?" Exactly.
That's what I did.
-How cool is that?
[ Applause ]
-Yeah. So... -Awesome!
-So, you know, I never wanted to, like, ever say that
until I met him.
And, you know, I was doing that "Rolling Stone" interview,
and he asked me about it.
And I was like,
"You know, I think I can say it now."
I think I can -- I've made it -- I've made it to the point
where he's not going to think
I'm trying to get something from him by saying it.
-Yeah. Did you ever meet him?
-The weird thing that happened is, I did the interview,
and just before the movie came out,
we did the New York premiere.
He came and I met him before the article came out.
So I actually, you know,
lived up to what I originally wanted to do.
It was amazing.
-And what did you say to him?
-He was like, "I haven't met you yet."
And I said, "Yeah, I've got to tell you something,
you know, you paid for me to go to school."
And he said, "Oh, so that's why I'm here.
You owe me money!"
[ Laughter and applause ]
"I came to collect."
-That's great. That's great, man.
-Oh, man. He's amazing.
-Well, the movie is a phenomenon.
I mean, obviously it's based -- it's a Marvel movie.
It's a comic-book movie, but it's bigger than that.
I mean, what do you think people
are taking politically from this?
-Uh...I mean, it's a lot of different things.
-Yeah.
-You know, you always get what you bring to a viewing.
Part of it was -- what has been very interesting is --
you know, I would say the strength
of the women in this movie,
especially at this particular time, while the metoo,
timesup movement is happening.
This adds another layer to that conversation,
a very, very good layer to the conversation.
So I think people have really, really responded
to that part of Wakanda.
I think the relationship between Killmonger and T'Challa,
which is basically, you know,
an African-American trying to connect to his roots.
And that conversation is one that I think is happening
on a platform that you wouldn't normally see happen.
You know, those are conversations
that happen behind closed doors.
So you see Africans viewing African-Americans
in a different way and African-Americans
viewing themselves in Africa in a different way.
And everyone else is privy to that conversation.
And so I think that is a very, very healthy thing for people
to become more specific about their identity
and encouraging it.
In most cases, you see people trying to water down things
when you talk about diversity. -Yeah.
-As opposed to embracing what they actually are.
So I think that has been,
you know, very refreshing and fulfilling.
-Isn't that great? That's great.
-Yeah. -That's so cool.
I want to show everyone a clip.
Here's Chadwick Boseman and Letitia Wright.
Man, oh, man, she is fantastic.
-She's great. -Oh, yeah.
Letitia Wright in "Black Panther" in theaters now.
Check this out.
♪♪♪♪
-Whoo! Let's go!
♪♪♪♪
Hey, look at your suit!
You've been taking bullets
charging it up with kinetic energy.
-Pull around the truck.
-Where'd he go?!
♪♪♪♪
-That's how you do it right there.