Behold, the power of the people. The People's Choice Awards made their debut on E! with a star-studded evening of awards, tributes and OMG-inducing moments. Hey, when you get the likes of Nicki Minaj and Jimmy Fallon in the same room as the fans who voted for them.
The night was peppered with many big winners, like Blake Shelton, Shadowhunters and the Kardashians, and plenty of calls to honor both veterans and the firefighters and volunteers battling the deadly Woolsey and Camp fires in California. And of course, there were off-the-cuff acceptance speeches. These were the biggest jaw-droppers of the 2018 People's Choice Awards.
1. Nicki Minaj's saucy dedications.
Not only did the rapper start the show off with a bang, but she went on to take home the Female Artist of 2018 and Album of 2018 awards. During her acceptance speeches, Minaj thanked the fans, her management, God and all the queens out there. She also thanked Donatella Versace for her dress and then, said "Michael B. Jordan is going to be taking this off of me tonight." Later, she dedicated an award to how Kim Kardashian's "ass in that dress tonight."
2. Gwen Stefani, come on up!
After The Voice won Competition TV Show of 2018, Blake Shelton and Carson Daly took to the stage to accept the trophy, and called Gwen Stefani up on stage with them.
"I want to thank Gwen Stefani before Blake does," Daly said. Then Shelton cut in and added, "All-time favorite coach right there. I love her."
Then Daly called Stefani up on stage, getting the crowd to chant for her. "What am I doing? Oh my gosh, I'm so excited to be with Blake Shelton," she said.
"They're going to get a room," Daly said about the singing couple.
3. You really, really like Shadowhunters.
The Freefrom series Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments took home the big TV prize, TV Show of 2018, as well as Male TV Star and Female TV Star of the year for Harry Shum Jr. and Katherine McNamara, respectively. Each time, the cast took the time to thank the dedicated fans for their support over the three seasons. The series is set to end in February 2019. Hey networks and streaming sites, you listening? The fans are loud.
4. Danai Gurira is a total badass.
The Walking Dead and Black Panther star was on the stage many, many times thanks to the Avengers wins as well as taking home one of her own, Action Star of 2018. She was voted tops over Chris Pratt, Ryan Reynolds, Chris Hemsworth and Chadwick Boseman. She thanked Black Panther director Ryan Coogler for entrusting women as collaborators and the "beautiful men" she shared the category with. "Thank you for affirming women and girls, when given the chance to hang with the boys, can hang with the best of them," she said.
5. John Legend will bring you to tears.
John Legend, a recent EGOT, took to the stage to honor Bryan Stevenson and his work with Erase the Hate. He also performed a moving version of U2's "Pride (In the Name of Love)" to set the stage for Stevenson's moving and inspiring speech that encouraged people to get involved and honored the advocates and activists who came before him.