Beyonce, Bruno Mars win at BET awards
LOS ANGELES: Beyonce and Bruno Mars took home best R&B/pop artiste honours, while Tiffany Haddish and Chadwick Boseman were named best actress and actor, respectively at the 2018 BET Awards.
‘Black Panther; took the award for best movie, while SZA walked home with the best new artiste award.
Named the best hip-hop artistes were Kedrick Lamar and Cardi B. Album of the Year went to Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN.
In addition, R&B singer Anita Baker was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award, while six people were selected to receive the Humanitarian Award: Waffle House hero James Shaw Jr.; March for Our Lives speaker Naomi Wadler; National Student Walk-Out Day participant Justin Blackmon; journalist Shaun King; Parkland, Florida, hero Anthony Borges; and Mamoudou Gassama, the man who saved a four-year-old by climbing a set of balconies like Spider-Man in Paris.
Serena Williams, despite a dip in her recent performances, was named Sportswoman of the Year ahead of shortlisted names like her own sister Venus.
LeBron James took home the award for Best Sportsman of the Year.
As a celebration of culture, the ceremony created an opportunity for celebrities to go all out, express themselves and have fun. It’s an event that recognises African-Americans who have made an impact on pop culture with their unique perspective. They were out there trying to outdo each other in dress and grooming – and in the volume of mousse slathered on.
Ashanti walked the carpet in a velvet mini dress with largerthan-life sleeves and white ankle boots. Heads turned and tongues wagged.
That said, her on-stage attire was hotter than the 114-degree Los Angeles day. So it was a fair trade-off.
Nikki Minaj performed in a black, latex-looking robe with red trim. She paired it with over-theknee, patent leather red boots.
Minaj wore her long, straight, and blonde locks down and blown back off her face. There were some pink and yellow streaks woven throughout.
Rapper Meek Mill, free after a controversial jail sentence, returned to the stage on Sunday with a vigorous attack on police brutality as he premiered a song at the BET Awards.
The awards of Black Entertainment Television, broadcast live from Los Angeles, recognise the best of African American music and film and the blockbuster “Black Panther” won Best Movie.
Mill was one of the night’s most memorable performers as he debuted his song “Stay Woke.” The 31-year-old rapper in April won his freedom five months after a judge jailed him over violations of probation stemming from a 2008 arrest, a decision that triggered protests charging that it was overly harsh and racially biased.
Mill performed “Stay Woke” on a set designed as a street scene in his native Philadelphia – a neighbourhood that is unkempt yet also full of life with children playing.
Police swarm onto the scene with force and a shot is heard. The song pauses and a little girl who was jumping rope is revealed to have been killed, her body then draped with an American flag.
“How can I pledge allegiance to the flag/When they killing all our sons and dads?” Mill raps. The singer Miguel contributes the chorus, which says, “Though it was designed for us to lose/ Nothing, nothing, nothing’s impossible/Believe it, we’re still undefeated.”
Jamie Foxx hosted the show, which aired live on BET from the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles.