BET Awards: The winners
The BET Awards featured emotional and energetic performances from Sheila E., Stevie Wonder and Jennifer Hudson honoring the Purple One, along with political statements.
Though the BET Awards were heavy on honoring the icon who died on April 21, the show went from Prince to political throughout the night.
"Grey’s Anatomy" actor Jesse Williams, who earned the humanitarian award for his efforts as an activist, gave a fiery, nearly six-minute speech that brought the audience to its feet and earned a rousing applause.
"We’re done watching and waiting while this invention called whiteness uses and abuses us, burying black people out of sight and out of mind while extracting our culture, our dollars, our entertainment like oil, black gold, ghettoizing and demeaning our creations then stealing them; gentrifying our genius and trying us on like costumes before discarding our bodies," he said onstage.
Beyonce won video of the year and the fan-voted viewers’ choice award for her hit, "Formation." Her mother, Tina, accepted the awards and said Beyonce had to quickly leave the show after her performance for a concert in London.
In case you missed this part of @Beyonce’s historic #BETAwards performance, featuring @kendricklamar. 🐝https://t.co/mFQEHG0KFa
— Racked (@Racked) June 27, 2016
Drake, who didn’t attend the show though he was the top contender with nine nominations, won best male hip hop artist and best group with rapper-singer-producer Future.
Samuel L. Jackson received the lifetime achievement award and was introduced by Spike Lee. Jackson ended his speech by offering praise to Williams, calling him "the closest thing I’ve heard to a 1960s activist."
"That brother is right and he’s true, and when you hear what he said, make sure you vote and you take eight more people with you to vote, OK?" Jackson said. "Don’t get tricked like they got tricked in London!"
Prince wasn’t the only icon honored Sunday — Muhammad Ali was remembered by his daughter and Jamie Foxx.
"To me and my eight sisters and brothers, he was just dad," Laila Ali said onstage. "My father also once said, ‘If people loved each other as much as they loved me, it would be a better world.’"
Foxx said Ali "stood up at a time when no one was standing up. So it’s definitely more than boxing, more than entertainment."
Ali died June 3 after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease.