BET Awards | Sandra Rose

Tuesday, June 30, 2020

A Black male-to-female (MtF) transgender activist called out BET for pulling a trans ad at the last minute.

At the conclusion of BET's first virtual BET Awards telecast on Sunday, trans activist Imara Jones, founder of Translash Media, took to Twitter to call out the network for pulling an advertisement that raised awareness of murdered Black MtF trans.

Jones tweeted:

"@bet pulled my ad at the last minute last night from the #BETAwards. It's hard to conclude anything other than that the platform is transphobic as @angelicaross & @lovebscott unfailingly point out. @citeblackwomen intentional invisibility is why our thoughts aren't heard."

In the ad, which was sponsored by McDonald's, Jones says, "Black trans women have a very simple message: stop killing us."

. @bet pulled my ad at the last minute last night from the #BETAwards. It’s hard to conclude anything other than that the platform is transphobic as @angelicaross & @lovebscott unfailingly point out. @citeblackwomen intentional invisibility is why our thoughts aren’t heard. https://t.co/2EjeqobUr3

— imarajones (@imarajones) June 29, 2020

In a follow-up tweet, Jones wrote "And it's the incredible gap between what @bet said last night about being pro Black on air and what it does. But as I have written before "#BlackLivesMatter except [if] your're trans."

And it’s the incredible gap between what @bet said last night about being pro Black on air and what it does. But as I have written before “ #BlackLivesMatter except is your’re trans.” #translash @translashmedia

— imarajones (@imarajones) June 29, 2020

Moreover my message was intended for a Black audience but now as an online ad (a consolation I guess) it’s being used to propel anti- Blackness and anti-transness. So what @bet did is even more irresponsible. #TransLash @translashmedia

— imarajones (@imarajones) June 29, 2020

And one way that we know that @BET is transphobic is that when asked about transphobia,or called out on it, by major Hollywood talent, they are silent. Which means that they don’t care because anti-transness is just culturally acceptable there.

— imarajones (@imarajones) June 29, 2020

I don’t want to say that #BETIsTransphobic but a pattern is a pattern.

— imarajones (@imarajones) June 29, 2020

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Monday, June 29, 2020

Screengrab: YouTube.com

The 2020 BET Awards featured several mentions of the recent Black Lives Matter protests, sparked by George Floyd's death, including rapper DaBaby's performance in which he is pinned to the ground by a police officer's knee on his neck - a reference to the killing of Floyd, 46, in Minneapolis, Minnesota last month.

Rapper Lil Wayne closed out the 2020 BET Awards by saluting the memory of NBA legend Kobe Bryant, who died alongside his teenage daughter, Gianna, and seven others in a helicopter crash in January.

BET Awards 2020/Getty Images

In the awards ceremony's In Memoriam segment, Weezy performed his 2009 song "Kobe Bryant" as footage from the basketball icon's career flashed on the screen.

Lil Wayne previously honored the sportsman on his album Funeral earlier this year - one track, "Bing James," included 24 seconds of silence - a nod to Bryant's Los Angeles Lakers number 24.

BET Awards 2020/Getty Images

Host Amanda Seales paid tribute to the late Rock-n-Roll singer Little Richard. She made references to Breonna Taylor, the emergency medical technician who was killed when police officers raided her apartment during a wrong house no-knock warrant.

Seales also poked fun at all the well-meaning and opportunistic white folk who passionately support the Black Lives Matter movement.

"I must admit, this BET Awards is a little different," Seales said. "The main thing is it's virtual. We're getting real in touch with being real inside. Because outside is on one. It's got COVID and cops... It's like we hated on 2019 so much, it called its brother, 2020, to come through and provide a collective Molly whop. And that's precisely why we had to do the awards, because we deserve a break.

"And when I say 'we', I mean all us black folks watching the kneeling... the 'I take responsibility' vids, and saying to ourselves, 'Wow, Y'all goofy...!' America is acting brand new about racism, like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was doing all the speeches for album interludes...

"We been out here in these streets marching, and this new eruption of consciousness has been beautiful. But keep it real though, some of y'all was only at the protest because the club is closed."

The full list of BET Awards winners

Best Female R&B/Pop Artist - Lizzo

Best Male R&B/Pop Artist - Chris Brown

Best Female Hip-Hop Artist - Megan Tee Stallion

Best Male Hip-Hop Artist - Da Baby

Best New Artist - Roddy Ricch

Best Group - Migos

Best Collaboration - No Guidance by Chris Brown feat. Drake

Video of the Year - Higher by DJ Khaled feat. Nipsey Hussle & John Legend

Video Director of the year - Teyana 'Spike Lee' Taylor

Album of the Year - Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial by Roddy Ricch

Best Gospel/Inspirational Award - Just For Me by Kirk Franklin

BET Her Award - Brown Skin Girl by Beyonce feat. Blue Ivy Carter, Wizkid & Saint Jhn

Viewers' Choice Award - Hot Girl Summer by Megan Thee Stallion & Nicki Minaj

Best International Act - Burna Boy (Nigeria)

Best New International Act - Sha Sha (Zimbabwe)

Best Movie - Queen & Slim

Youngstars Award - Marsai Martin

Best Actor - Michael B. Jordan

Best Actress - Issa Rae

Humanitarian Award - Beyonce

Sportswoman of the Year - Simone Biles

Sportsman of the Year - LeBron James

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Monday, June 29, 2020

Megan Thee Stallion wowed fans on Sunday night as she pulled out all the stops for her performances during the virtual BET Awards.

The buxom 25-year-old rapper took inspiration from the Mad Max films for her incredible 4-minute video, in which she performed renditions of her hits "Girls In The Hood" and "Savage."

Dressed in a leather bralet and matching bottoms, with knee-high boots and a spiked bolero, the curvaceous star made an impressive entrance on a quad bike as she was joined by similarly clad dancers for the desert dance-off.

After concluding "Girls In The Hood", Megan and her bodacious crew jumped on their quad bikes to travel to their second destination - a stage set up from scaffolding in the middle of the desert.

From there, Megan ditched her cover-up as she twerked, jiggled and danced her way through the eye-popping choreography, before the video concluded with the voluptuous rapper riding through the landscape on a spiky throne being driven by a masked man.

"Thank you BET," a thrilled Megan smiled as she finished her performance, which had been viewed more than 300,500 times on BET's YouTube page as WENN went to press.

Megan had another reason to celebrate on Sunday night, as she also took home the trophy for Best Female Hip-Hop Artist.

The award is the latest sign that Megan's fame is still on the rise. But despite her growing success, the young star won't stop her studies at Texas Southern University - where she's working on a bachelor's degree - as a tribute to her mom Holly Thomas, who died in March 2019 after battling brain cancer.

"I want to get my degree because I really want my mom to be proud," Megan told People magazine. "My grandmother that's still alive used to be a teacher, so she's on my butt about finishing school. I'm doing it for me, but I'm also doing it for the women in my family who made me who I am today."

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Tuesday, June 25, 2019

Offset was caught leaving through the back door of Bootsy Bellows nightclub in W. Hollywood, followed by a few mystery women after a night of partying on Monday.

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