Who was Michael Keaton's nephew? Actor dedicates 'Dopesick' SAG to tragic young man
Actor Michael Keaton, 70, broke down on stage after he received his Screen Actor's Guild award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series for his role in 'Dopesick', remembering his late nephew Michael.
The actor dedicated the award to his sister Pam and her son Michael, who succumbed to a heroin and fentanyl overdose in 2016. Michael was in his 30s at the time of his death.
In 'Dopesick', Keaton plays rural doctor Dr Sameul Finnix who slowly gets addicted to drugs. During his speech after being given the award, Keaton got visibly emotional and tears could be seen in his eyes. He paused in the middle of his speech, before saying, "Given the subject matter, this is for my nephew, Michael, and my sister, Pam. I lost Michael to drugs and it hurts. To my sister Pam, thanks."
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In his award speech, Keaton further said, "There's an argument to be made, it's a legitimate argument, that a night like tonight is self-serving, narcissistic - it's a legitimate argument to be made - that said, I'll speak for myself, I am so fortunate. I'm so blessed to do what I do. I have a job where I can be part of a production like Dopesick, that actually can spawn thought, conversation, actual change, who gets to have that job? Seriously how fortunate am I that good can come from what I do just because I decided to be an actor? There's massive inequity in the world. In Dopesick, when you talk about addiction, the way to heal the problem is to accept that you have a problem. Not our country, the entire world, economically, racially, socially, financially, there's massive inequity in the world. There just is. There's fair and there's unfair. There's not a lot of room in between. 'I can feel right now the rolling thunder of eye rolling coming across people saying to me things like, 'shut up and dribble,' 'shut up and act.' The acting I'll quit. The shutting up, not so much. I'm blessed to do something that might improve someone's life."
Miniseries 'Dopesick' explores how Purdue Pharma had pushed the use of OxyContin across America. OxyContin is a prescription painkiller than has been highly held responsible for the opioid crisis in the US and which has caused over half a million deaths since 1999.
Purdue executives last year pleaded guilty to criminal charges that included defrauding federal health agencies by downplaying the addictive nature of the medication, and paying illegal kickbacks to doctors.