The American artist Vin Diesel chokes as he sang "see you again" to pay tribute to the late Paul Walker

Vin Diesel emotionally paid tribute to his late

friend and costar Paul Walker at the People's
Choice Awards Wednesday night.
The star accepted two awards for Furious 7 –
favorite movie and favorite action movie – and
choked up during his acceptance speech as he
remembered his close friend, and how difficult it
was to film the movie after Walker's death in a
2013 car crash.
"It was a labor of love. My only message to you
is you'd be amazed what you can do with love,"
he said. "You'd be amazed at how powerful a
force that is. When we didn't want to come
back to filming when the tragedy was too
heavy, it was the love of everyone combined
that saw us through to the end."
Fighting back tears, Diesel told the audience he
wasn't expecting to be hit with such a wave of
feeling as he stepped onstage.
"You know, as I was coming up here, I always
do this. I say I'm not going to get emotional
about winning these awards, and I was cool
when I was sitting in my seat, and then they
handed me two awards. One for favorite action
movie and one for favorite film. You all thought
that this was your favorite film. I think of Dom
and Brian and I start to think of Paul," he said,
pausing to collect himself.
He also said the awards are particularly
meaningful because they come directly from
the people.
"I want to thank the People's Choice Awards.
It's real people that are voting for these awards.
It's just pure fans saying how much they
appreciate our work, and that means the world
to me," he said.
In closing, Diesel surprised the audience as he
broke into a heartfelt mini rendition of "See You
Again," which took on special meaning after his
comments about Walker.
"I thank you so much and the only thing I can
say now, 'It's been a long day without you, my
friend, and I'll tell you all about it when I see
you again,' " he crooned.