(cheering and applause) (rhythmic chanting) ♪♪ ("We Will Rock You" by Queen playing) ♪♪ ♪ We will, we will rock you ♪ ♪ Sing it ♪ ♪ We will, we will rock you ♪ ♪♪ ♪ We will, we will rock you ♪ ♪ Sing it ♪ ♪ We will, we will rock you ♪ ♪♪ ♪ Everybody, we will, we will rock you ♪ ♪♪ ♪ We will, we will rock you ♪♪ ♪♪ (cheers and applause) Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Well, first of all, I want to thank the dancers and the choreographers, Dave Scott and John Silver. Give it up for them. My boys!
Yes! (cheering and applause) I want to say thank you to MTV for this awesome, you know, really incredible, prestigious award. I also want to thank my family at home, my girls.
I got a house full of strong-ass women at home! (cheers and applause) But mainly I want to thank the ones who make this whole thing happen. I want to thank you, the people, the fans.
I thank you. (cheers and applause) All of you at home, you are the reason I'm getting this, so I want to share a really quick lesson with you guys that I've learned over the years. The most powerful thing that we can be is ourselves.
(cheers and applause) And. . .
I love what Zachary was saying, because that's us. We're always that little kid and we're still that little kid, right, just aspiring to be something better, aspiring to be important. So, when I first got to Hollywood-- Hollywood, they didn't know what the hell to do with me.
I mean, I was this half black, half Samoan, 6'4", 275-pound pro wrestler. (cheering and applause) You know, I was told at that time, well, you gotta be a certain way. You gotta drop some weight.
You gotta be somebody different. You gotta stop working out. Stop doing the things that I love.
You gotta stop calling yourself "The Rock. " What? (woman) We love you!
Oh, I love you back. Thank you. That's my mom, everybody.
Thank you, Mom. (laughter) You know, and-and for years, I actually-- I bought into it because you think, "Oh, that's what-- that's what I'm supposed to do. " And I was miserable doing that, so I made a choice.
And the choice was, I wasn't gonna conform to Hollywood. Hollywood was gonna conform to me. (cheers and applause) So, Hollywood conformed to me, and here I am with all of you, getting the Generation Award.
Holy --! (cheers and applause) What-What you saw up here tonight, I mean, that's who I am. I'm proudly half black and half Samoan and I wanted to bring those cultures here, up here for the world to see.
So, yes, it's important that you are your most authentic self. I'm a walking example of that. But, but here's the thing that I want to share with you guys: That's not enough.
Because there's another side to being your authentic self, your true self, and that's the side that the magic is on. That's the side that's gold. And while, yes, it's important to be yourself, you gotta recognize the joy and the responsibility of bringing everybody with you.
(cheers and applause) We bring everybody with us, and you do that by being kind, by being compassionate, by being inclusive, and straight up, just being good to people, because that matters. (cheers and applause) And if you can hit that place, that's when you become powerful. That's when you become influential.
That's when you can have real global influence in a positive way. So, that said, I leave you with this. When I was 15 years old, I heard a quote and I will never forget it, and I bring it with me everywhere I go, and it's ingrained in my DNA.
The quote is this, "It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice. " (cheers and applause) With that, I love you. I thank you.
Drnk your tequila. I will see you all down the road. Thank you very much!
