Driving the focus away from himself in his acceptance speech, Prince Harry foregrounded that he was a mere “voice on behalf of the Invictus Games Foundation.”
After facing vigorous backlash from all corners of the 2024 ESPY Awards conversation for being ESPN’s choice for the ceremonious Pat Tillman Award for Service, Prince Harry accepted the title on Thursday, July 11. But he didn’t do so without speaking his heart.
The Duke of Sussex poured his heart out in his acceptance speech onstage at Dolby Theatre. The 39-year-old estranged member of the royal family made it his priority to first honour the Pat Tillman Foundation, which was co-founded by the war hero’s widow, Marie Tillman Shelton. Thereafter, Harry paid a poignant tribute to the late NFL safety-turned-Army Ranger’s mother, Mary Tillman, and his message emotionally invoked his mom’s memory.
Notably, Prince Harry’s moving message to Tillman’s mother didn’t merely follow the negative reviews from several critics, but also Mary Tillman herself, who previously bashed ESPN for picking the Duke as the recipient of the celebrated award named after her son.
“I am shocked as to why they would select such a controversial and divisive individual to receive the award,” she previously told the Daily Mail.
