For two decades, the BET Network has celebrated Black culture with its annual awards ceremony. While the event usually takes place inside Microsoft Theater at L.A. Live in Downtown Los Angeles, Sunday’s awards ceremony was carried out virtually due to the continued spread of coronavirus.
Not only was BET commemorating the 20th anniversary of its awards show, but 2020 marks the 40th anniversary of the BET Network itself. Inglewood-born actress and comedian Amanda Seales hosted the broadcast from her home using a green screen.
Seales kept the three-hour ceremony flowing as she offered both comic relief and social commentary, breezing through routines and outfit changes and introducing the pre-recorded performances. She shared the spotlight with Lizzo, Megan Thee Stallion, Beyoncé, DaBaby, Migos, Roddy Ricch, sports figures Simone Biles and LeBron James and actors Issa Rae and Michael B. Jordan. Fewer than a dozen awards were given out during the actual ceremony, which focused more on powerful performances and messages of unity and social change, but a complete list of winners was made available just after the broadcast.
Here are the top five performances from the 2020 BET Awards.
1) The show opener
The BET Awards intro kicked off with 12-year-old gospel singer Keedron Bryant solo, singing his heart-wrenching “I Just Wanna Live” in response to the death of George Floyd, the Black man whose death in police custody on May 25 sparked outrage and protest across the nation.
That was followed by a video montage of artists performing Public Enemy’s anthem “Fight the Power” that included the group’s Chuck D and Flavor Flav, The Roots’ Questlove and Black Thought as well as rappers YG and Rapsody. Clips of the performers mixed with images from protests throughout the country along with updated lyrics about Floyd and 26-year-old Breonna Taylor, the Black woman fatally shot by Louisville Metro Police Department officers on March 13 inside her own home.
2) Alicia Keys’ “Perfect Way to Die”
R&B singer-songwriter Alicia Keys paid tribute to 18-year-old Michael Brown Jr., who was shot by police in Ferguson, Missouri, and 28-year-old Sandra Bland, who was found hanged in a jail cell in Texas after a traffic stop, with “Perfect Way to Die.” Keys offered a stripped-down performance, dressed in black and playing her piano in the middle of a darkened city intersection. At the end of the song, Keys took a knee among the names of African Americans killed by police or who died while in police custody.
3) DaBaby featuring Roddy Ricch with “Rockstar”
Earlier this week, best male hip hop artist winner DaBaby and best new artist winner Roddy Ricch released a zombie-filled video for DaBaby’s single “Rockstar.” The pair teamed up again with a no-holds-barred video performance inspired by the death of Floyd and recent protests. They performed atop a burning car with masked protesters holding up Black Lives Matter signs. At the end, a young Black girl slowly walked toward the camera holding up a sign that read “More Love.”
4) Megan Thee Stallion’s “Girls in the Hood” & “Savage”
Best female rap artist winner Megan Thee Stallion created a mini “Mad Max” themed movie for her BET Awards performance that was pure entertainment. The 25-year-old and her backup dancers gave a lively performance of “Girls in the Hood” as they raced across the desert on ATVs and performed on an abandoned and industrial-looking stage. She finished off the video on a futuristic-looking dune buggy as it sped through the sand.
5) A Pair of Tributes
Back in 2009, rapper Lil Wayne wrote a song for Kobe Bryant. Wayne once again paid tribute to the late NBA legend and Los Angeles Laker on Sunday night by performing the track to clips from Bryant’s basketball career. He changed up some of the lyrics since Bryant died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas that also claimed the lives of his daughter, Gigi, and seven more people on Jan. 26. “My heart goes out to Vanessa and the whole Mamba family,” he rapped.
Rock and roll legend Little Richard died on May 9 following a battle with bone cancer. He was remembered and celebrated by comedian Wayne Brady at the BET Awards as Brady channeled his inner Richard. He was clad in a gold suit as he danced and sang a medley of Richard’s hits including “Good Golly Miss Molly,” “Long Tall Sally,” “Tutti Frutti” and “Lucille.” It was a fast-paced video that followed Brady and a duo of female backup dancers through various rooms that featured large printed photos of Richard on the walls.
