Victoria Monét Gives Searing Speeches Championing Dancers, Black Female Collaborations At BET Awards While Nabbing 2 Trophies

The BET Awards made sure to give Victoria Monét her much-deserved flowers this year. The singer was one of this year’s ceremony’s big winners, snagging not only the Video of the Year award, but the BET Her Award, which honors “motivational and empowering songs centered on women,” as BET reported.

After taking to the stage earlier in the night to perform “On My Mama” and “Alright” (joined by Kaytranada), Monét accepted the BET Her Award alongside her mother. “This is really amazing. It’s such an honor to receive this award, especially the BET Her Award, because I’m so proud to be a Black woman; this is the lady that I put it on. This my mama,” Monét said to applause.

She also thanked her community and women around the world for supporting her.

“I just want to say that we really need each other,” the 35-year-old said. “We need to support each other. We need to collaborate with a happy face. So anybody in this room that is a Black female artist, I would love to collaborate and make that anthem that’s going to break the internet together.”

Monét also joined the night’s Usher tribute— she showed off her dance skills while Teyana Taylor sang the Atlanta native’s 2004 hit “Bad Girl.”

Then, when accepting the Video of the Year award, Monét made sure to shoutout the video’s choreographer, Sean Bankhead.

“You’re so much more than a choreographer. You’re a visionary; you’re a multitasker because you’re always booked. And you’re a great friend. You got the Midas touch. Thank you so much for upgrading my performance and making me better,” she said.

She added, “To every dancer that was a part of the music video. I need the world to understand how important you are [and] how much power you have to make a song break and make it successful.”

Monét also pointed out how important it is to protect dancers in the entertainment industry.

“I need everyone in the room to understand it because I need the pay to reflect that importance. But I can’t do that alone; artists can’t do that alone. We need executives, we need brands, we need unions. And protect our dancers and our future dancers so that they can make a sustainable career out of this,” she said.