During his acceptance speech, the 'San Andreas' actor invites the troops who are in audience and backstage to join him on stage, and says, 'I want to thank you so much for everything that you do.'
- Jun 19, 2015
AceShowbiz - Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was honored with the Hero Award at the 2015 Guys' Choice Awards, airing on Thursday, June 18. In accepting the award, the "San Andreas" actor paid tribute to American troops.
Johnson looked emotional while giving his acceptance speech. The 43-year-old actor said his career was only possible "because we live in a country where we're free, and we get to celebrate this freedom." He later invited U.S. troops whom he dubbed "the brave men and women of our military services" to join him on the stage. "This is a moment. This is a moment right now. I want to thank you so much for everything that you do," the "Furious 7" actor told the troops.
During the award, the wrestler-turned-actor also announced the production of "epic variety show" titled "Rock the Troops" for which his production company, 7 Bucks Productions, will collaborate with SPIKE. The show was intended to entertain U.S. troops who are stationed overseas.
The award ceremony was taped on June 6 at Sony Pictures Studios with Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson as hosts. In the previous years, the award was named Troops' Choice for Entertainer of the Year. This year was the first time it was called the Hero Award.
One day after the taping, Johnson wrote a lengthy post on Instagram. He wrote it as a caption for the picture showing him during the award presentation. It read, "Very special moment.. Last night at the Guy's Choice Awards I was honored to receive the HERO AWARD given by our U.S. Military to someone who they feel best represents and exemplifies the qualities of our U.S. military and troops."
He was also excited to meet the troops during the award. "I've had the great pleasure to shake hands and spend time with thousands of U.S. Troops over the years and as a few folk already know, I have military that runs in my family (two Navy SEALS), so my respect for our troops is boundless and I'm extremely grateful to have received such an honor - and thank you troops for joining me on stage in this awesome moment," he wrote.
On another post, he wrote about the announcement of "Rock the Day" production. He said that "the troops were ecstatic" upon hearing the news. Besides, he wrote about his excitement as Clint Eastwood was the one who handed over the award. "Now what made this moment even more epic, was as a 100|percent| total surprise to me.. this award was handed to me personally by a man I've never met, yet who I've always considered to be one of greatest inspirations and heroes... Mr. Clint Eastwood," so he captioned a picture showing him hugging Eastwood.
