BET Does Horrible Job Censoring Usher’s Lifetime Achievement Award Speech At 2024 BET Awards

Usher was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award and a tribute performance at the 2024 BET Awards. The problem was BET attempted to censor him when he used profanity during his acceptance speech, and ended up muting the majority of it.

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The Atlanta superstar shouted out a slew of people, namely Johnta Austin , his wife Jennifer Goicoechea, his children, and even LeBron James and his son Bronny . This was about all the fans could hear, as the moment he said one curse word, nearly the entire duration of his speech was silent to the viewing audience.

One social media user posted a gif of Pharrell aggressively pressing a red button while on The Voice and wrote “The censor person in the back during Usher speech” in their caption. Another user had a similar caption, but instead used a gif of Bow Wow playing the air piano during his 2021 Verzuz.

Several fans demanded that BET make up for their blunder by uploading the unedited speech. “Are they gonna upload Usher’s unedited speech on BET+ or something, because this consistent muting is ridiculous?” one user asked. “It’s the silent acceptance speech for the viewers at home for me. Just go to commercial. Congratulations, Usher! Sh*t,” another user wrote.

One fan referenced the Source Awards, writing “Usher cussing up a storm up there like it’s the Source awards BET took away my audio can’t even hear the speech” with several laughing emojis. And while the reference was funny, this was clearly not a laughing matter for fans who wanted to her what the “Confessions” singer had to say.

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This came after a tribute performance that many fans seemingly disapproved of. Childish Gambino, Keke Palmer, Victoria Monet, Chlöe, Coco Jones, Tinashe, Latto, and Marsha Ambrosius performed his hits like “U Don’t Have To Call,” “Bad Girl,” “Good Kisser,” “There Goes My Baby,” “Superstar,” and “Yeah!” Fortunately, he seemed in good spirits, but the fans did not feel the same. At least he got to get a full speech in for his Best Male R&B/Pop Artist award that he received earlier in the night.

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