Josh Gad, who co-starred with Boseman in Marshall, shared one of the last text messages he received from him. Sent during an unusually rainy stretch of Los Angeles weather, Boseman urged his friend to literally look past the clouds to focus on the “much needed shower.”
“I urge you to go outside and take a DEEP breath,” he wrote.
A great many other notables offered their sympathy to Boseman’s family, and remarked on his courage.
And while some might call it a little silly to think about “comic book rivalries,” it was touching to see DC Comics remark on his passing.
Recognizing the importance of Boseman’s portrayals of Black heroes, Vice President Joe Biden offered condolences.
Senator Kamala Harris shared a picture of her with her “fellow Bison” (alumni of Howard University), saying she was heartbroken. (As it happens, Boseman’s final tweet was of the same embrace, from a different angle.)
At approximately the same time late Friday, President Donald Trump was ranting about TV ratings and complaining that there was no college football.
Looking back at older interviews takes on a new resonance now, knowing that Boseman was fighting cancer while he was creating such powerful and iconic roles. This video, in which he talks about working on Black Panther knowing that children with terminal cancer were eager to watch it, is almost too moving to watch right now.
Wakanda Forever.
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