Debbie Allen means so much to me.

Hi, it's Ava Duvernay.

I'd like to have the title of your biggest admirers, but I know that a lot of competition in that category.

I just wanna salute you today I'm so happy that we have the space and it's time to celebrate you that you get all your flowers and you have many, many more decades to get them on.

It will never be enough because there's so much that we can, um, salute you for so much that we can applaud you.

For you have been a inspiration.

Feels like too soft a word for what you mean to me as a black woman director.

The ground that you've laid and continue to lay, I just I I can't thank you enough for the grace and the power with which you've moved through our industry and open doors for me and people like me.

Women like me to walk through.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for standing by my side.

Thank you for always encouraging me and being so kind so lovely, so warm.

Um, I wish you nothing but many more years of beauty and bravery and congratulations.

Hey, Debbie Allen.

Each girlfriend, Dolly.

I wanted to congratulate you on your documentary as well as the Netflix Christmas on the Square musical.

You did a great job directing.

You did a great job choreographing you did a great job executive producing.

And I just love you.

And I am so proud of you.

Thank you.

Hey, Debbie Allen is Jennifer Lewis.

How you doing, sweetie?

Oh, we've been friends for so long.

I am so proud of you look atyou directing, acting, singing Christmas on the square and your hot chocolate documentary on Netflix.

Wow, I am so proud of you, sweetie Queen.

Debbie Allen.

Oh, you are a huge reason why I am an actress and why I am in Hollywood.

I want to thank you for setting the tone of excellence for students at Howard University studying the craft of acting or musical theater.

Thank you for setting up the scholarship Thea Andrew Allen scholarship in honor of your father at Howard University.

When I became pregnant my junior year, I won that scholarship.

Therefore, I was able to continue to study my craft.

Thank you so much for giving me the audacity to dream and the guts to make my dreams come true Love you Hey, dandy Tomorrow those air your holiday flowers Just in time for the hot chocolate Nutcracker girl You know I love that show.

I love you.

I love what you represent to the world.

Light vision, strong woman lead.

Get this done.

Take care of these babies.

Leave something.

Um, for the next generation, leave a legacy with your life with your love with your purpose.

I love you, Debbie.

Congratulations, Debbie.

My first real gig in this industry was on a different world.

I was 22 right out of college with this dream to be a director.

And every day I got to go toe work and see an incredible, fierce, talented black woman running things.

You ran that set so tight with so much talent, so much vision, but also with respect and love and kindness and laughter.

Absolutely set The tone absolutely showed me the way.

And not only that, you were so God so welcoming, so passionate, so helpful to me.

And I will never, ever forget it.

What I love about you, Debbie Allen, is your spirit of positivity.

There are no problems.

There are Onley solutions and you're always finding a way to make everything around you better.

How can we work harder?

And how can we just be better?

How can we make everything better?

That's always the energy you bring into the room and you're always dancing.

You are like music to my ears.

And I love you.

Hi, Debbie.

When I look back at some of my most favorite memories in my career, so many of them have you in it.

Whether it was you directing us, that scandal always making us better actors.

Or when I was in the director's chair and you choreographed dance moves for my episode, you have always been there for me with encouragement and tough love and joy and strength.

You inspire me as an actor, as a teacher, as a friend, as a director, as a wife, as a mother, as an entrepreneur, as a human being.

Debbie, you are so beautiful inside and out.

And I'm sending you all the gratitude and much love and all the flowers in the world today for you.

Debbie just wanted to say love you, darling.

You are a force of nature.

Thank you for all that you do your heart, your commitment, your sacrifice, your passion, your love.

Uh, just wanna give you that shot out.

Dawn much love All the best.

What does Debbie Allen need to me?

Interesting.

You should ask Debbie Allen means so much to me.

She is a beautiful spirit.

She's an incredibly talented and just warm human being.

I actually talked about her in the meaning of Mariah Carey.

But I talk about a very, very special time in our lives that we spent together and how she kind of really helped me evolve.

Um, in many ways.

So she means so much to everybody.

And it's hard to encapsulate that in a little a bit of time.

But I would say she needs the world.

Hey, Miss Allen, it's mine here.

I just wanna thank you for making my life incredible.

You taught me the possibility to dream and to do and to make it happen.

And you showed me that dreams do come true.

I am.

Because you are.

Thank you for being fearless.

Thank you for never giving up.

Thank you for guiding me.

Thank you for loving me.

You are an incredible incredible incredible force.

And I am so thankful for you.

I love you and you deserve flowers everyday.

Debbie Allen, you are my hero.

Thank you so much for coming to D.

C.

When I was a teenager and taking me under your wing for showing me the way for mentoring, teaching, loving, mothering me for opening your house to modern I so that we could come to L A.

To pursue our dreams Because of you.

We are.

We love you.

We appreciate you and we celebrate you.

Debbie Allen.

You are the goat, My sister Modern.

I forever root for you.

Debbie Allen.

Debbie Allen.

Debbie Allen.

Is that how Obama did it?

Uh, for everything that makes you who you are for this amazing career that you've had so far for being everything that I thought you would be And then some when we finally met for pushing.

When you need to push for being maternal, when you need to be maternal and for everything else that you have come in your way I, Shandra Wilson give you your flowers.

W had a huge influence on May my entire life and it became like this very surreal very amazing thing toe actually meet her and then suddenly to be working with her toe, have her be somebody directing my shows and being one of the characters in my shows and just being uncredible force in my life.

Somebody I've known for a long time who's so amazing and creative and passionate about her work, who I mean, I don't know.

Debbie is a choreographer, a dancer, a director and actor.

Ah, producer, a writer.

She's been on Broadway, She's been in movies, she's been on television.

I mean, if there's something to be done, Debbie has done it on, so I don't know it.

She's She's just extraordinary person, and I'm really proud to know her harm is Daddy.

And congratulations, Mr Debbie on everything.

Oh, ooh, the hot chocolate, Not cracker.

You know, when Philia was very young, she said, You know, Mommy, people are always talking about the red shoes, but I have brown feet, and I think their dance very well.

And that's what you're giving people brown feet that dance very well.

Here's to you, Mr Teddy.

The cutest little rose bud that Texas ever knew.