The BET Awards 2024 took over Los Angeles this past weekend! But the annual event’s red carpet and the live show went triple platinum in trending social media topics. From Usher‘s tribute and Lifetime Achievement acceptance speech to Taraji P. Henson‘s hosting skills and Angela Simmons‘ controversial outfit accessory, Black Twitter (now X) was in flames!
Keep scrolling to see five TOP BET Awards moments everyone is still discussing.
1. Angela Simmons Responds To Mixed Reactions Over Her Gun Purse
As with any red carpet, celebrities’ style choices for this year’s BET Awards were a major topic of conversation. Ice Spice turned heads with her bright orange Marilyn Monroe-esque bob and curving-hugging Versace. Lil Mo was dripped out in a purple corset paired with purple peep shorts, knee-high purple boots, and a matching captain’s hat. Jhonni Blaze had her abs on full display with her all-white floral bra and maxi skirt set.
Stay Connected
Subscribe to updates from The Shade Room
But Angela Simmons definitely drew attention when she chose a green, bejeweled, gun-shaped purse to pair with her curve-hugging, Casze Atelier peacock-inspired gown.
Reactions to Simmons’ accessories were all over the place. Some people pointed out her proximity to gun violence-related deaths, including her son’s father, while others pointed fingers at her man Yo Gotti as an influence. They didn’t walk the carpet together but sat beside each other inside the BET Awards 2024 show. Then, of course, there are the memes and trolling of the style choice.
Everybody looking at Angela Simmons pic.twitter.com/wLN8bwIhoI
— SC©©P™ (@ScoopZilla) July 1, 2024
Following the show, Angela Simmons broke her silence on her controversial look while riding in a car. She acknowledged that she’s “not like that, never been like that” and is non-violent.
“…I’ve obviously been through like a lot in my personal life when it comes to gun violence and it’s very personal to me, but I just liked the bag. And I thought it was cool, and I thought it was a fashion moment. That was it,” she said. “I didn’t have any intentions of ruffling anyone’s feathers.”
See what else Angela Simmons said below.
2. Taraji P. Henson’s ‘Not Like Us’ Parody Intro For The BET Awards 2024
Moving off the red carpet, Taraji P. Henson showed the audience her previously teased hidden talent to open the show. Henson took the mic dressed in a red hoodie and jeans, imitating Kendrick Lamar’s look from his viral Juneteenth concert.
RELATED: Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Pop Out’ Concert Has The Internet Shook Because Of THESE Moments
Taraji put her twist on his hit diss track ‘Not Like Us,’ choosing to focus on the pay gap in Hollywood, among other topics.
3. Usher’s Lifetime Achievement Speech & Tribute
Usher was one of the highlights of this year’s BET Awards as the previously announced recipient of the 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award. Early in the evening, he snagged the BET Award for “Best Male Pop Artist” amid nominees Chris Brown, Brent Faiyaz, Bruna Boy, Drake, Fridayy, and October London.
When he took the stage to accept his Lifetime Achievement Award, he kept it 100 about his 30-year entertainment career. Not withholding the extra sauce of a couple of cuss words, Usher thanked the men who’d looked out for him. Unfortunately, the network muted much of his speech—likely due to the cussing—but he brought peers like Jermaine Dupri, L.A. Reid, and Bryan Michael Cox on stage.
Later in his speech, he also spoke about forgiving people who’ve had anything negative to say about him. Usher then proceeded to name-drop his ex-wife, Tameka Foster, and speak about co-parenting using Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz co-parenting with his ex-wife as an example.
“I’m trying Tameka,” Usher added while his newly wedded wife, Jennifer Goicoechea, sat in the front row.
Note that BET has since apologized for excessively muting Usher’s 13-minute speech while it was being broadcast. The network reportedly spoke with Billboard, revealing that they experienced an audio malfunction.
“Celebrating global icon Usher on our stage with a star-studded tribute and having him accept his award with a heartfelt speech was an honor… We extend our sincere apologies to Usher as we couldn’t be more grateful for his participation in Culture’s Biggest Night,” the network said.
4. These Artists Showed Out For Usher’s Tribute
As mentioned, along with the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award, Usher got a chance to see his peers honor his legacy. Donald Glover (Childish Gambino) opened with an a capella version of his 2001 hit, ‘U Don’t Have To Call,’ and Keke Palmer joined in when the music began, later transitioning into ‘U Make Me Wanna.’
Coco Jones ate up ‘There Goes My Baby,’ even pulling Usher from the crowd during it. Marsha Ambrosius came through with ‘Superstar,’ Chloë‘s mic was ON for ‘Good Kisser’ while Tinashe bodied ‘Nice & Slow.’
Teyana Taylor and Victoria Monét gave a spicy dance performance to ‘Bad Girl’ while Latto hyped the crowd with ‘Yeah.’ Summer Walker closed the tribute with their 2023 collaboration ‘Good Good,’ featuring 21 Savage. Catch the entire tribute HERE.
5. Donald Glover Throws Shade, Calls Out Being Tied With Sam Smith For BET Awards
While Glover took the stage to honor Usher, he also used his spotlight later in the show to call out the BET Awards. He shaded BET while presenting Killer Mike with Album of the Year. Though he was nominated for Best Actor, Denzel Washington ultimately received the honor.
He admitted to feeling like his career was worthy of more BET awards. “How much more entertaining do I have to do? Because it’s just the math of the fact,” Glover said.
“I have more Grammys than Will Smith, which makes no sense, but I have the same amount of BET awards as Sam Smith. Does that make sense to you guys? Me and Sam Smith are neck and neck at the Black Entertainment Television [Awards],” he said.
For context, Donald Glover won the 2019 BET Award for his music video to the song ‘This Is America.’ Sam Smith also has one BET Award from 2015 for ‘Best New Artist.’
Glover, formerly Childish Gambino, concluded with a lil’ dark humor, adding, “If I have to do ‘Baby Boy’ or something, just let me know. I’ll have Jonathan Majors put me in a headlock, shave my head, I’ll do it.”
Childish Gambino just pulled a Jay-Z and I love it 🤣🤣 #BETAwards pic.twitter.com/HW2DreGPZF
— ✨Lei Lei✨ (@leiileiijaee203) July 1, 2024
We must note that while these moments above are eating in engagement on social platforms, there were plenty of others. Vice President Kamala Harris’ collaboration PSA with Taraji P. Henson about voting stirred mixed reactions.
Performances by Megan Thee Stallion, Victoria Monét, Sexy Redd, and GloRilla also took center stage amid trending topics. Tyla, Skillibeng, and Gunna also performed their collab track ‘Jump.’ Fugees fans also got a sweet surprise when Wyclef Jean joined Lauryn Hill on stage!
