The show must go on. BET Networks is moving forward with its awards show on Sunday, June 28, although this year don't expect the usual crowd: the event will be remote due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Scott Mills, president of BET, said the network made the decision to go ahead with the awards ceremony months ago, as the first wave of the pandemic brought the country to a standstill.
"When we made the decision in April to proceed with the show, we actually made the decision because we understood as the single, largest event on television celebrating Black culture, celebrating Black accomplishment, celebrating the Black community, and celebrating Black excellence, that now more than ever it was so important to ensure that show went forward."
Now, the awards ceremony finds itself scheduled in the midst of another major movement affecting the Black community. Protesters have been marching for weeks against systemic racism and police brutality following the death of George Floyd in late May.
"The show has always been a platform not only to entertain but also to shine a light on those in our community who are working hard to drive change," Mills said.
Just last year, the BET Awards honored the Central Park Five, the Exonerated 5 -- men who served time for rape after they were wrongfully convicted.
This year, Mills is clear: Sunday's event will not be hampered just because everyone is not in the same room. Expect powerful performances and inspiring speeches as the award ceremony celebrates its 20th anniversary and BET Networks marks its 40th anniversary.
"It's a pretty amazing milestone and it's happening at the most incredible time in this country where we have these two plagues impacting specifically the African American community: the disproportionate of COVID-19 on our community and the over 400-year legacy of racism in this country," Mills said.
The BET Awards will be hosted by comedian Amanda Seales, featuring performances from Alicia Keys, Lil Wayne, and Jennifer Hudson.
As the first awards ceremony of the coronavirus age, BET is creating the blueprint for award shows to follow, as big events look to take a more remote approach.
"The great thing is the show's really anchored in celebrating the most extraordinary, successful, talented, creative people in our culture; and the stage while in many ways is a platform, a stage is a constraint," Mills said. "When we said to all of this talent, well the one thing we are not going to do is to have everyone perform on the Microsoft stage in LA, the talent actually responded 'Great, we can bring a whole, fresh set of creative approaches to executing on this."
The BET Awards will air June 28 at 8 pm ET/PT on BET and will make its network broadcast premiere on CBS.
John Bencich, CEO of Achieve Life Sciences, joins Cheddar Innovates to discuss a new plant-based compound that's being used to fight nicotine addiction.
On this episode of Cheddar Innovates: CEO of Achieve Life Sciences discusses a new plant-based compound that's being used to fight nicotine addiction; President & CEO OF DiaMedica Therapeutics explains a new ischemic stroke treatment option that expands the window for effective therapy for stroke patients; Cheddar gets a look at Curiosity Stream's 'Asteroid Rush.'
Catching you up on today's entertainment headlines with the Tribeca Film Festival has kicked off in NYC, "Black Adam," starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson dropped its first full trailer, the musical "Come From Away" based on a true story set during 9/11 will be closing on Broadway this October, and more.
Survivors of Larry Nassar, including Olympian Simone Biles, are seeking $1 billion in damages from the FBI due to its failure to investigate the former gymnastics team doctor convicted of committing years of serial sexual abuse of minors. Jack Queen, a senior reporter at Law360, joined Cheddar News to break down the legal grounds of this case. "This is one of the biggest black eyes that the Bureau has faced in generations, quite frankly, and the FBI has taken full responsibility and admitted that it completely botched this investigation," he said. "So, there's a lot of pressure to settle."
The Elevate Prize Foundation is donating $10,000 to different grassroots organizations based on a theme every month to help scale their work, focusing on a different theme each time. Upcoming prizes will help uplift an organization supporting the LGBTQ community and one mobilizing to help end gun violence. The foundation's CEO Carolina Garcia Jayaram joined Cheddar to discuss the initiative and why it's important to uplift these grassroots organizations. "We are identifying social entrepreneurs around the world to help them scale their work. but the ultimate purpose of that is to create the first-ever fanbase for good," she said. "We're trying to make good famous and by inspiring people to think about the role they can play in doing good in the world."
With real estate being a largely male-dominated industry, Stephanie Shojaee, vice president and chief marketing officer at development company Shoma Group, joined Cheddar News to discuss how she took on the gender gap for women to achieve leadership roles, starting at her own company. “It's been very important to teach all the women that work here, especially the younger ones, that they shouldn't change themselves," she said. "You need to be happy with who you are and just keep breaking barriers."
We are already starting to feel the effects of summer. Heat waves in Texas and California are already sending temperatures soaring. That could spell trouble for the nation's power supply. there are new concerns about outages in many areas of the country. Cheddar's Shannon Lanier explains the two main causes of blackouts, and what states are doing to keep the lights on and the air conditioning running.
If you have been on the road this past year, you've probably seen more accidents on the road than you ever have. You're not wrong. Traffic fatalities are not only increasing they are hitting historic highs. Almost 43,000 people died in motor vehicle accidents in 2021. Cheddar's Shannon Lanier investigates - and finds out why.
U.S. stocks close Tuesday at session highs after a subpar start to the trading day. Tim Chubb, Chief Investment Officer at the wealth advisory firm, Girard, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss. 'We're starting to see the moderation of three core things -- we've seen the moderation of prices, we've seen the moderation of wage growth we've seen in the labor market, and we've also seen a moderation of job openings,' he says.
The victims from the USA gymnastics sexual abuse scandal continue to seek justice. Survivors of Larry Nassar are seeking more than one-billion dollars from the FBI for failing to stop the convicted sports doctor when the agency first received allegations. According to a report released by the Justice Department's Inspector General, FBI agents knew
in July of 2015 that Nassar was accused of abusing gymnasts; however, Nassar wasn't arrested until December of 2016. The group that filed the claim includes Olympic medalist Simone Biles and around 90 other women. Louise Radnofsky, sports reporter at The Wall Street Journal, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
