SPOTLIGHT

known as the backdrop for swank parties that brought together Hollywood types and business execs with the political cognoscenti, on the market late last year. And with the news last week that BET is moving its headquarters from D.C. to New York, the break seemed complete.

Lee insists the timing has nothing to do with the Trump administration — after all, she’s seen presidents come and go in her 37 years in Washington. “I’m not down on Washington,” she says, though she describes the Obama years as “magical” for her and her network’s viewers. “Politics are really only part of what this town has to offer.”

Lee, who took the helm at the network in 1996, is planning to spend time in Los Angeles with her two adult children (they’re in the music biz) and work on deals involving BET’s original programming, an increasingly large part of the business.

Lee leaves behind a designer-stiletto footprint in Washington that includes not just those parties, but charitable endeavors, most notably the annual gala for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater she co-chaired, which raised $1 million this year. Lee says she plans to stay involved with her D.C. causes and friends.

“I’ll continue to fight for causes I believe in — racial equality, the rights of women and girls — and that brings you to Washington.”

REBECCA D’ANGELO FOR THE WASHINGTON POST BET chief executive Debra Lee poses with Lyndon K. Boozer, an AT&T executive, at the Kennedy Center.