In an emotional acceptance speech on Saturday, Richard E. Grant who won the Indie Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actor in Can You Ever Forgive Me?  said that his performance was “an homage to that generation of men that were wiped out” by the AIDS crisis.

In a 2008 interview Grant spoke about his time in New York in the late 1980’s during the AIDS crisis.

“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. It was devastating to see that.”

You can watch Richard E. Grants acceptance speech below.