Richard E. Grant Dedicates Indie Spirit Award to Those Lost to AIDS

Richard E. Grant has won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actor for portraying an HIV-positive gay man.

Visibly emotional in his acceptance speech Saturday, Grant called his performance "an homage to that generation of men that were wiped out" by the AIDS crisis.

The British actor won the award for his turn as Jack Hock in Can You Ever Forgive Me? -- a biographical film based on the life of the lesbian writer and literary forger Lee Israel (Melissa McCarthy). Jack Hock -- who assisted Israel in her con of forging the personal letters of famous writers -- died of an AIDS-related illness in 1994 at the age of 47.

Grant spoke to The Advocate about his time in New York during the AIDS crisis in a 2018 interview:

"It made an indelible, unforgettable impression on me seeing, in Manhattan, as rich as America is, on street corners, and it wasn't just one street corner... There were emaciated, dying young men holding placards saying, 'I have AIDS. I am dying. I have no family, I've been disowned, I've had no Medicare. Please help me.'" Grant recalls. "It was devastating to see that."

Grant may have another chance to pay tribute to people lost to AIDS Sunday night as he is in contention for the Academy Award for the same role and category.

Watch his acceptance speech below.