As the world continues to mourn the passing of Chadwick Boseman, fellow Black Panther star, Danai Gurira took to social media to honor the man who she fondly refers to as her “brother.”
“How do you honor a king? Reeling from the loss of my colleague, my friend, my brother. Struggling for words. Nothing feels adequate. I always marveled at how special Chadwick was. Such a pure-hearted, profoundly generous, regal, fun guy,” Gurira wrote in a statement shared on Instagram and Twitter on Sunday.
Boseman, who played the Marvel superhero, Black Panther, sadly passed away on Friday following a four-year battle with colon cancer. He was 43. He did not make his diagnosis public.
Gurira played Okoye, General of the Dora Milaje — fierce leader of T’Challa’s Wakandan army.
“My entire job as Okoye was to respect and protect a king. Honor his leadership. Chadwick made that job profoundly easy. He was the epitome of kindness, elegance, diligence and grace. On many an occasion I would think how thankful I was that he was the leading man I was working closely with,” Gurira continued. “A true class act. And so perfectly equipped to take on the responsibility of leading the franchise that changed everything for Black representation.”
Angela Bassett, who played T’Challa’s mother Ramonda, also took to Instagram to pay tribute to her close friend and onscreen son.
“It was meant to be for Chadwick and me to be connected, for us to be family,” Bassett wrote. “But what many don’t know is our story began long before his historic turn as Black Panther. During the premiere party for Black Panther, Chadwick reminded me of something. He whispered that when I received my honorary degree from Howard University, his alma mater, he was the student assigned to escort me that day.”
