DC was the place to be on Saturday night as the 2015 BET Honors went down live from the Warner Theater and we had the pleasure of being in the building. The eighth annual gala was hosted by Wayne Brady who returned for his second year in a row as master of ceremony and did an excellent job.
This year’s honorees included Kanye West, Usher, Dr. Johnnetta Betsch Cole, Director of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African Art; Phylicia Rashad, Tony Award-winning actress; and John W. Thompson, Chairman of Microsoft and CEO of Virtual Instruments.
Usher was joined by his fiance and manager Grace Miguel, and his mother Jonetta at his side as he was honored and received his award for musical arts. Trey Songz took the stage to perform Usher’s hit ‘Nice & Slow’ before he was presented his award by Ben Vereen, and surprise guest Bobby Brown. A tearful Usher took the stage delivering a heartfelt speech honoring his mother for tireless dedication to him and his career.
Kanye West received the Visionary Award with wife Kim Kardashian by his side, as the two stunned in all black Balmain gown and suit. Charlie Wilson took the stage to perform for Yeezy and during the performance Kanye jumped on stage and did an impromptu freestyle of their hit ‘Bound 2’.
Yeezus received his award from Dame Dash who made a rare appearance with his daughters. Dame took to the stage despite his “emotional issues” he revealed he has with Kanye and other people (Jay Z) and said when Kanye called him and asked him to present him the award he thought it was courageous of him. Dame said although he can take a lot of the credit for discovering Kanye and giving him the platform, its Kanye’s courage that got him to where he is now.
“My history with Kanye is I didn’t respect him as a rapper because I was around the greatest rappers,” said the Roc-A-Fella Records founder. “But he has courage.”
While receiving his award Kanye gushed about his love for his wife Kim Kardashian and rose eyebrows when he took an apparent jab at Ray J. “They say white girls go out and get a rich black dude. But my wife has dated broke black dudes. So it’s not about the money,” he said as the crowd laughed hysterically. A proud Kim looked on from the audience.
Phylicia Rashad was presented her theatrical arts award and was honored by her Cosby co-stars, sister Debbie Allen and other peers in a video montage before the legendary Diane Carroll took the stage to honor and present the award to Phylicia who looked as regal as ever.
Performers included Mary J. Blige, Ne-Yo, Patti LaBelle, and K. Michelle,who took the stage in a long blue gown that draped the stage as she belted out her album track “Judge Me.” Be sure to catch the show with these highlights and so much more when it airs on Monday, February 23, 2015 a at 9 pm ET on BET.
[PHOTO CREDIT:BET]
