Rapper Kendrick Lamar lands the biggest wins at the 2025 BET Awards
The Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news you need to start your day. Sign up here. Lamar and filmmaker Dave Free also took home the video director of the year award at the event, which was held at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles and broadcast on the BET cable channel. "BET has always made sure they're representing the culture right and always put me in the midst of the cycle of what we represent," Lamar said on stage when accepting his award.
Host comedian Kevin Hart opened the ceremony by recognizing the BET Awards' 25th anniversary and all of the "history that has been made" on the stage. The ceremony traversed the evolution of Black music, starting with a performance by R&B artist Ashanti that featured a compilation of songs, including her 2002 song "Foolish."
Additional performances included other 2000s songs "Ballin'" by Mustard, "1 Thing" by Amerie and "Like You" by Bow Wow. Hart led with jokes while also highlighting the BET Ultimate Icon Award winners of the night, including Kirk Franklin, Mariah Carey, Jamie Foxx and Snoop Dogg.
The special award was given to those that have paid homage to music, entertainment, advocacy and community impact. Presented by Stevie Wonder, Foxx accepted his award and reflected on his recovery journey after having a stroke in 2023.
"I gotta be honest, when I saw the in memoriam, I was like, 'Man, that could have been me'," he said. Another honor included the best female hip hop artist award for rising rapper Doechii.
"Trump is using military forces to stop protest," Doechii said in her acceptance speech, addressing the anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles, where the National Guard and U.S. Marines are being deployed. "I want y'all to consider what kind of government it appears to be, when every time we exercise our democratic rights to protest, the military is deployed against us," she added.--AFP
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"First I met you as Theo with the rest of the world then you were my first TV husband,' Ross said on Instagram. "My heart is so so sad. What an actor and friend you were: warm, gentle, present, kind, thoughtful, deep, funny, elegant.' Warner's film roles included the 2008 rom-com "Fool's Gold' with Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson. A poet and a musician, Warner was a Grammy winner, for best traditional R&B performance, and was nominated for best spoken word poetry album for "Hiding in Plain View.' Warner also worked as a director, helming episodes of "Malcolm & Eddie,' "Read Between the Lines,' "The Resident' and "All That.' Warner, named after Malcolm X and jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal, was born in 1970 in Jersey City, New Jersey. His mother, Pamela Warner, served as his manager when he began pursuing acting at age 9. In the early 1980s, he made guest appearances on the TV shows "Matt Houston' - his first credit - and "Fame.' Warner was 13 when he landed the role of Theo in an audition after a broad search for the right child actor. Cosby was a major star at the time, and the show was certain to be widely seen, but few could've predicted the huge phenomenon it would become. For many the lasting image of Theo, and of Warner, is of him wearing a badly botched mock designer shirt sewed by his sister Denise, played by Lisa Bonet. The "Gordon Gartrell' shirt later became a memeable image: Anthony Mackie wore one on "The Tonight Show' with Jimmy Fallon and the profile picture on Warner's Instagram shows a toddler sporting one. Warner would develop a love-hate relationship with the character. "Theo was very good to me. And I think that show and that role is timeless. And I'm very proud of that role,' Warner said in a recent podcast interview, while noting that he'd tried to separate himself from the role and for years would recoil when fans addressed him as Theo. "Part of the distancing for me is not wanting to see how much of Malcolm is in Theo. I remember doing the show and I always thought that Theo is corny. I want Theo to be cooler,' he told Melyssa Ford on her "Hot & Bothered' podcast. "Somebody called me America's favorite white Black boy. And I was 15. ... It hurt me. ... That's cultural trauma.'
