Mariah Carey Encourages Fans to 'Be a Diva, Be a Boss' While Receiving Ultimate Icon Award at 2025 BET Awards
Mariah Carey accepted the Ultimate Icon Award at the 2025 BET Awards
The best-selling female singer of all time was honored alongside Jamie Foxx, Snoop Dogg and Kirk Franklin
The 2025 BET Awards, hosted by Kevin Hart, air on BET at 8 p.m. ETMariah Carey is the ultimate icon and wants fans to be the same.
On Monday, June 9, the "Always Be My Baby" singer was honored at the 2025 BET Awards with the BET Ultimate Icon Award, and had a speech just as iconic as she.
Earlier in the evening, Carey took the stage to perform her latest single "Type Dangerous," which she released on Friday, June 6. With a gentleman on her arm, she cascaded down the stairs in a white coat before revealing a metallic gold mini dress. Carey was also joined onstage by Rakim, whose classic 1986 debut single 'Eric B. Is President" she interpolated on "Type Dangerous."
Carey, 56, along with Jamie Foxx, Snoop Dogg and Kirk Franklin are recipients of the award this year, which celebrates "decades of groundbreaking contributions to music, entertainment, advocacy, and community impact." Their talents range from music and business to television and film.
She was introduced by Busta Rhymes, who waxed poetic on her impact as an artist and his love for the elusive chanteuse. "Mariah, she is not only an icon culturally for all of us, but she is the blueprint for hip-hop pop collabs before it was even cool," he said.
"If you wanted a ballad, she got you. If you need a bop and a bounce, no problem." He also quipped that if you need a song that officially signals the start of the Christmas season, she has you there as well.
"This means so much," Carey said upon taking the stage, "especially coming from BET. And Busta, you made me a little emotional backstage, I was watching you and remembering that song. You're still one of my favorites."
This marked Carey's first-ever BET Award.
"If you're gonna get one, might as well start with the Ultimate Icon Award," she joked. "But really, it's incredible to be here alongside Kirk Franklin, Jamie Foxx and Snoop, I love you guys. Congratulations."
"My life and career have been quite the adventure. I will spare you the long, drawn-out saga tonight. It's all in my book anyway," she continued.
Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
"It took me a while, but I finally realized life is far too short to live for anyone else's approval, which is something I always did," she said. "So I decided to own who I am. My extraness, my fabulousness, my and yes, my success and my iconicness."
Added Carey: "I'm so grateful for you all to celebrate it with me tonight. Thank you so much. I just want to encourage everyone out there to believe in yourself. Love and respect yourself. Be a diva, be a boss, be anything you wanna be. But be iconic while you're doing it."
In March, Carey — who is the best-selling female artist of all time — was also recently honored at the iHeartRadio Music Awards, accepting the ICON Award.
"Thank you iHeart for this incredible honor. As a kid, I used to listen to my favorite artist on the radio and dream of being on the airwave myself. Now, for those of you who may not know what airwaves are, think of it as the non-wifi version of streaming, okay?" Carey joked.
"Even now I still get excited when I hear one of my songs playing on the radio. It never stops being magical."
The Queen of Christmas also gave her fans, whom she affectionately calls her "Lambily," a shoutout.
"You've been with me through every step of this journey. Your love and loyalty are the greatest gift, and I'm endlessly thankful for each one of you," said Carey.Along with Carey and her fellow BET Ultimate Icons, Kendrick Lamar leads the nominations this evening with 10 nods. Other nominees this year include Doechii, Drake, Future, GloRilla, Metro Boomin, SZA and The Weeknd.
The BET Awards are airing live on Monday, June 9 from Los Angeles' Peacock Theater on BET.
Read the original article on People
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
40 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Miley Cyrus Schools Monica Lewinsky on the Meaning of ‘WAP'
Miley Cyrus educated Monica Lewinsky on the meaning of the acronym 'WAP' in a new episode of Lewinsky's podcast, Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky, offering a humorous yet insightful reflection on her past controversies. In an exclusive clip shared with Billboard ahead of the episode's release, Cyrus jokingly explains to Lewinsky, who admitted being unfamiliar with the term, exactly what 'WAP' means. More from Billboard Quincy Jones Remembered by Lucky Daye, Luke James & Miles Caton With Smooth 2025 BET Awards Tribute Jamie Foxx Honored by Stevie Wonder & Reflects on Health Scare at BET Awards: 'You Can't Go Through Something Like That & Not Testify' Lil Wayne Brings 'Tha Carter' Album Series Full-Circle With 'A Milli' Performance at 2025 BET Awards 'A couple years ago, like, WAP…' Cyrus began, prompting Lewinsky to admit, 'Wait, I don't know what that is.' Laughing, Cyrus replied, 'Are we telling Monica Lewinsky what WAP is about? Should I tell her?' before playfully clarifying, 'It stands for Wet A– P—-. Okay?' The 'Flowers' singer then compared her infamous 2013 MTV Video Music Awards performance, which faced significant backlash, to Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion's celebrated rendition of 'WAP' at the 2021 Grammys. 'It got performed at the Grammys. I dressed as a teddy bear and got shamed,' Cyrus remarked. 'But Cardi B isn't for kids. She's not a child star. For me, it was so hard to go but like why is Rihanna not in trouble? But it was because I was a kid star, so it's like the babysitter went rogue. I was like a babysitter for America's children.' Lewinsky's podcast Reclaiming features candid conversations where guests explore the concept of reclaiming narratives that have been taken or lost. The podcast engages a variety of recognizable figures, experts, and everyday people in open and often unexpected discussions. This episode's timing coincides with the release of Cyrus' ninth studio album, Something Beautiful, which debuted at No. 4 on the ARIA Albums Chart. The album continues Cyrus' tradition of chart success, following her previous No. 1 albums Breakout (2008), Bangerz (2013), and Endless Summer Vacation (2023). Fans can catch the full episode of Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky at 12 p.m. ET on June 10, available early and ad-free for Amazon Music subscribers and Wondery+ listeners. Watch the 'WAP'-torial below. Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Janet Jackson's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits H.E.R. & Chris Brown 'Come Through' to No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Billy Joel's first wife walked out on him in hospital bed after motorcycle crash that nearly killed him
Billy Joel is reliving some of the most painful moments in his life. In the upcoming documentary, "Billy Joel: And So It Goes," the "Piano Man" crooner, 76, recalled the moment his first wife, Elizabeth Weber, walked away from their marriage shortly after his near-fatal motorcycle crash. "I always romanticized motorcycles. There's something about it. I feel like I can be completely disconnected from the world. There's a sense of freedom about that," Joel said in the doc, per People. Billy Joel Cancels All Concerts Due To Brain Disorder Diagnosis Joel said his admiration for motorcycles left Weber "scared all the time." "I on many occasions said to him, you know, 'You can't do this, this is dangerous,'" she said. Read On The Fox News App "Elizabeth had warned me, she said, 'Be careful, be careful, 'cause you're going to have an accident,'" the musician recalled. In 1982, Joel suffered multiple injuries after his bike crashed into a vehicle mid-intersection. "I was amazed I was still alive. I should have died in that accident," he said. "And I laid there in shock for a couple of minutes and I went to the hospital." The accident left him with a broken arm, leg and wrist. While he recovered in the hospital, Weber opted out of the marriage. "I would've stayed, I would've been able — like so many women before me — to make that accommodation for someone you love ,but there was no way that I could stand by and watch him kill himself," said Weber, who recalled placing the house key onto a tray in his hospital room. "I just didn't have that in me. And I felt very strongly that that's what was going." When Weber left the hospital, she recalled telling Joel, "You know, someday they may write about us and I hope that they say that we really did something." According to her, Joel responded with, "I hope they could say we went all the way." She added, "And that was it. That really was the final. That was it." The couple were married from 1973 until 1982. "After 'Glass Houses' came out I was always on the road, working, working, I look back on that guy and I don't even know who he was, he had to be so ambitious to work that hard and work that much," Joel said in the documentary. "So, it must have not been easy to be married to me at the time." "I wasn't asking him to change, but I just did not want to live like that. My response to it was to get a place in New York City where you can enjoy anonymity — so it wasn't so much as we separated, but we started to get a little bit isolated from one another and I also knew that he wasn't in a good place. We were all under a lot of stress," Weber said. "All of us dealt with our stresses in different ways. And so there was a lot, a lot of alcohol use and eventually a lot of drug use." Like What You're Reading? Click Here For More Entertainment News Elsewhere in the documentary, Joel also opened up about what led him to attempt suicide twice and fall into a coma. When the musician was in his early 20s, Joel was part of a band called Attila with his best friend, Jon Small, who was married to Weber at the time. He ended up moving in with Small, Weber, and their son, according to People. "Bill and I spent a lot of time together," Weber confessed in the documentary, per People. She added that their friendship was gradual and a "slow build." Joel eventually told his best friend, "I'm in love with your wife." "I felt very, very guilty about it. They had a child. I felt like a homewrecker," Joel admitted in the documentary, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on Wednesday. "I was just in love with a woman, and I got punched in the nose, which I deserved. Jon was very upset. I was very upset." Billy Joel Opens Up About Affair That Led To Two Suicide Attempts The betrayal not only ended Joel and Small's friendship at the time but also dissolved their band, Attila. Consumed by guilt and depression, Joel's personal and professional life unraveled, as he began to spiral. Click Here To Sign Up For The Entertainment Newsletter "I had no place to live. I was sleeping in laundromats, and I was depressed, I think to the point of almost being psychotic," Joel said in the documentary. So, I figured, 'That's it. I don't want to live anymore.' I was just in a lot of pain and it was sort of like why hang out? Tomorrow is going to be just like today is, and today sucks. So, I just thought I'd end it all." Joel's sister shared in the film that she was working as a medical assistant and gave him sleeping pills to help with the restless nights. WATCH: BILLY JOEL'S WIFE ALEXIS JOEL SHARES HOW SINGER SUPPORTED HER DURING HER BATTLE WITH ENDOMETRIOSIS "But Billy decided that he was going to take all of them… he was in a coma for days and days and days," she emotionally said. "I went to go see him in the hospital, and he was laying there white as a sheet. I thought that I'd killed him." While Joel acknowledged that he had been "very selfish" during the tumultuous time, he recalled his first thought when he woke up from his coma was that he wanted to attempt suicide again. During Joel's second attempt at suicide, he ingested "lemon Pledge," a furniture polish. Miraculously, he survived both attempts, after Small rushed him to the hospital. "Even though our friendship was blowing up, Jon saved my life," Joel explained in the documentary. Fox News Digital's Stephanie Giang-Paunon contributed to this post. Original article source: Billy Joel's first wife walked out on him in hospital bed after motorcycle crash that nearly killed him
Vogue
an hour ago
- Vogue
30+ Best Block Heel Sandals for Elegant Comfort
Looking for a classic sandal that's as chic as it is walkable? The best block heel sandals are the perfect in-between. Whether you're heading to a summer garden wedding, a city stroll, or just want something a bit more elevated for everyday wear, these styles will take you easily from day to night. Vogue's Favorite Block Heel Sandals: Block heel sandals instantly transport us back to the classic minimalism of the '90s—think Carolyn Bessette in a sleek black midi and barely-there leather sandals, or virtually every runway show from brands like Miu Miu, Jil Sander, and Chanel. Yet fashion houses in 2025 are still happily giving this shape the spotlight, from Balenciaga to Bottega Veneta, who've made it their own with distinct house code touches, like stud and buckle embellishments or an intrecciato lambskin footbed. For everyday sleek neutrals with a minimalist twist, look to brands like Emme Parsons, Ancient Greek Sandals, and Reformation for effortless yet versatile picks. If you're after an evening-ready pair, Gucci and Manolo Blahnik offer classic silhouettes that can be paired with just about any wedding guest dress (or other occasion-wear). The Row arguably makes our favorite luxury version for everyday, with strappy detailing and a jewel-like adornment. For fashion-forward interpretations, cool-girl labels like Martiniano, Lemaire, and deliver fresh, modern options. Here are the standout pairs worth adding to your cart.
