Vin Diesel paid an emotional tribute to his late, long-time friend Paul Walker Wednesday night while accepting a pair of People’s Choice awards for “Furious 7.”

“As I was coming over here, I always do this, I say I’m not going to get emotional about winning these awards,” he said. “I was cool while 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. So I think of Dom (Toretto, Diesel’s character) and Brian (O’Conner, Walker’s character) and I start to think of Paul.”

Diesel and Walker starred together in “Furious 7” and four other films in the “Fast and the Furious” franchise.

Walker died in 2013, while filming was going on for the latest installment in the series. A car accident in Santa Clarita, California, claimed his life.

“My only message to you is you’d be amazed what you can do with love -- you’d be amazed how powerful a force that is,” Diesel said. “When we didn’t want to come back filming when the tragedy was too heavy, it was the love of everyone combined that saw us through to the end and now I’m standing here with all of you telling me that this was your favorite film of the year.”

He thanked the fans and the cast and crew behind “Furious 7” before breaking into a verse from Wiz Khalifa’s “See You Again.”

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