The Black Lives Matter movement took center stage at the 2020 BET Awards.
The Sunday night awards ceremony, hosted by comedian and actress Amanda Seales, saw a number of impactful musical performances and moving acceptance speeches from the evening’s winners.
Black Power fists adorned performance sets for a number of artists including Roddy Ricch, Anderson .Paak and Megan Thee Stallion. George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery’s names were among those that echoed throughout the program as artists also took time during their performances to bring attention to the victims of racism and police brutality.
One of the first of many noteworthy moments of the evening was Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” performance. Preceded by a short clip of Keedron Bryant’s chilling “I Just Wanna Live” song, the musical number featured footage of Black Lives Matter protesters marching across the nation. The rap group’s performance also brought attention to the recent killings of Taylor, Floyd and Arbery, calling out their names in the middle of their lyrics.
“Fight for Breonna Taylor and the pain of her mother,” Rapsody sang. “Racism is a cancer, Black thought is the answer,” said the Roots’ MC Black Thought.
