Three hours and 52 minutes is a long time to be doing anything except sleeping —driving, cooking, painting a room — and it’s an excruciatingly long time to spend watching an awards show. But unlike those other activities, spending 3:52 watching a televised awards show (and that total doesn’t even include the hour-long red-carpet pre-show) leaves a person with little sense of accomplishment or rejuvenation.
The BET Awards are always unusually long for an awards show that isn’t an Oscars or a Grammys — the network traditionally blocks out three-and-a-half hours on the last Sunday night in June — and most years it delivers with either a stacked talent lineup and/or a series of water-cooler moments. But whether due to the ongoing writers’ strike — which got at least two statements of support from people on the BET stage —or the fact that many artists, including Sunday’s big winners, SZA and Beyonce, are on the road, making up for touring time lost to the pandemic, there was little of either in evidence on Sunday night, in a show that, without naming names, was dominated by mediocre talent, over-long speeches or paid programming of some kind. It’s a safe bet that even the biggest fans of hip-hop and R&B had no idea who was on stage for a large percentage of the time. (The full winners list appears below.)
“Is this the same show or did they start over?” one viewer asked on Twitter.
None of which is to say there weren’t great moments: The two surviving members of Migos, Quavo and Offset, staged a surprise reunion in tribute to their late bandmate Takeoff, who was murdered last fall. There were strong performances from Latto, Davido, Coco Jones and especially Ice Spice, who played a medley of her hits on a dazzling set themed on her hometown of the Bronx, complete with a small park and a basketball court (she began the performance sitting on top of the hoop, which lowered to the floor), a bodega (with her DJ behind the cash register) and a staircase leading up to a mock-elevated subway platform, complete with 4-train signs.
And Busta Rhymes, recipient of the Lifetime Achievement award, delivered a long but deeply moving speech about both his own career and the importance of having mentors — he recalled sitting with legends like Public Enemy’s Chuck D., and shouted out executives Sylvia Rhone, Mona Scott Young and the late Chris Lighty for their guidance; the tribute video to him featured Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, Diddy, Chuck D., Missy Elliott, Swizz Beatz and Pharrell, the latter of whom compared Busta’s unique bullhorn rapping style to that of a jazz trumpeter or saxophonist.
But although excuses can be made for a long Lifetime Achievement segment — and combined with his long performance, Busta’s might have topped 30 minutes — there were just way too many overlong speeches and hip-hop 50th anniversary tributes without the A-list talent to justify their length.
“I feel like I have seen at least 100 people perform tonight,” said another viewer on Twitter.
ALBUM OF THE YEAR (TIE)
SOS – SZA
RENAISSANCE – Beyoncé
BEST COLLABORATION
WAIT FOR U – Future feat. Drake & Tems
BEST FEMALE R&B/POP ARTIST
SZA
BEST MALE R&B/POP ARTIST (TIE)
Chris Brown
Usher
BEST NEW ARTIST
Coco Jones
BEST GROUP
Drake x 21 Savage
BEST FEMALE HIP HOP ARTIST
Latto
BEST MALE HIP HOP ARTIST
Kendrick Lamar
DR. BOBBY JonES BEST GOSPEL/INSPIRATIonAL AWARD
Bless Me – Maverick City Music & Kirk Franklin
BET HER AWARD
Break My Soul – Beyoncé
VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Kill Bill – SZA
VIDEO DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
Teyana “Spike Tey” Taylor
BEST MOVIE
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
BEST ACTRESS
Angela Bassett
BEST ACTOR
Damson Idris
YOUNGSTARS AWARD
Marsai Martin
SPORTSWOMAN OF THE YEAR
Angel Reese
SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR
Jalen Hurts
VIEWER’S CHOICE AWARD
Break My Soul – Beyoncé
BEST INTERNATIonAL ACT
Burna Boy
