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Announcement of Death of Black Panther Star, Chadwick Boseman, Bursts Twitter With 5.8 likes
Post Announcing Death of Black Panther Star, Chadwick Boseman, Is The Most Liked Tweet Of All Time
TOPLINE
The message announcing Chadwick Boseman’s death is Twitter’s most-liked tweet of all time, the company said Saturday, as the world continues to grieve the beloved Black Panther actor.
KEY FACTS
Boseman’s family announced the actor’s death in a statement posted to his Twitter account late Friday night.
The post has 5.8 million likes and is now the most-liked tweet of all time, Twitter said Saturday. “A tribute fit for a King. #WakandaForever,” the company said.
Boseman died on Friday after battling colon cancer for four years, but he never spoke publicly about his diagnosis.
Boseman starred as Marvel’s first Black superhero in the 2018 blockbuster Black Panther.
“A true fighter, Chadwick persevered through it all, and brought you many of the films you have come to love so much. From Marshall to Da 5 Bloods, August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and several more, all were filmed during countless surgeries and chemotherapy,” the statement reads.
The previous most-liked tweet was from former President Barack Obama, who posted a Nelson Mandela quote the same day as the deadly Charlottesville, Virginia, car attack that killed Heather Heyer.
Key background
Fans and Hollywood stars mourned the actor on social media. He died on Jackie Robinson Day, which is celebrated annually by the MLB, years after portraying the baseball legend opposite Harrison Ford in the 2013 film 42.
“Chadwick came to the White House to work with kids when he was playing Jackie Robinson. You could tell right away that he was blessed. To be young, gifted, and Black; to use that power to give them heroes to look up to; to do it all while in pain—what a use of his years,” Barack Obama tweeted.
“What a gentle gifted SOUL. Showing us all that Greatness in between surgeries and chemo. The courage, the strength, the Power it takes to do that. This is what Dignity looks like,” Oprah said.
- Forbes
