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A Night Out: BET Honors Awards

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Stars gather at the Warner Theatre to celebrate the achievements of distinguished African-Americans.

By Whitney Spivey   Published Monday, January 14, 2008

Producer Tyra Banks was honored in the media category. All photos by Liz Gorman.

Dr. Cornel West was honored in the inspirational category.

Where: DC’s historic Warner Theatre, with an after-party across the street at the Ronald Reagan Building. BET has “done a number of significant shows in other cities,” explained Debra Lee, the network’s chair and CEO. “But what better place to honor these individuals than in our home city of Washington, DC?”

When: Saturday, January 12, 7 PM.

Actress Kerry Washington introduced Congresswoman Maxine Waters.

Who: The Warner had a capacity crowd, its front rows filled with the 30 or so stars who graced the red carpet prior to the show. The evening revolved around award winners in six categories: singer Alicia Keys (entertainment), talk-show host Tyra Banks (media), author Cornel West (inspirational/education), Time Warner chair Richard Parsons (corporate), Congresswoman Maxine Waters (government) and ACT-1 CEO Janice Bryant Howroyd (entrepreneur). The event was hosted by a very patient Cedric the Entertainer, who began the show three different times due to technical difficulties. The comedian was assisted in introducing the nominees by actors Hill Harper, Idris Elba, Vivica A. Fox, Blair Underwood, Danny Glover, and Kerry Washington. Musical performers were Raheem DeVaughn, Jill Scott, Wyclef Jean, Brian McKnight, Stevie Wonder (he performed “As” twice—did someone forget to turn the camera on?), John Legend, and Gladys Knight. Apparently, Michael Jackson was scheduled to make a surprise performance, but alas, the superstar was nowhere to be seen. Instead, 25-year-old Ne-Yo gave a less-than-thriller-quality but very good closing performance.

Other guests included R&B singer-songwriter Keyshia Cole, whose slinky dress revealed no fewer than four tattoos, and actor Mario Van Peebles, who wore a shiny black shirt and glittery black pants vaguely reminiscent of pajama bottoms. Hip-hop artist Chingy dressed up his casual brown leather jacket and tennis shoes with a gigantic star-shaped rhinestone ring, while DC mayor Adrian Fenty and wife Michelle opted for more traditional formalwear.

Wyclef Jean performed two songs in honor of Tyra Banks.

Want to see more photos from Washington events and parties? Click here for Washingtonian.com's photo slideshow page. 

Food: None—it was an awards show (although the media room was well stocked with a scrumptious seafood buffet).

Drink: Ditto.

Scene: The entire 500 block of 13th Street was barricaded by early afternoon, causing one passer-by to stare at the security guards outside the Warner and ask, “What’s going on here? Is it the Academy Awards?” Close. Probably as close as Washington will ever get, in fact. The stars arrived in Hollywood style, sweeping along a red carpet for photographs and brief interviews. Then it was on with the show, which was very stop-and-go to ensure that everything was just right for the television broadcast. Each nominee’s introduction was followed with a short video clip highlighting his or her rise to success; the videos were followed by the acceptance speeches.

Kerry Brothers and Alicia Keys on the red carpet.

Tyra Banks took the stage after an exceptional performance of “Sweetest Girl” and “Bad Mamma Jamma” by Wyclef Jean. She thanked her parents for their support and went on to explain her success: “The door has been cracked open, and I’m gonna put on that designer gown and I’m gonna put on that bra and panties and cover up the cellulite on my bootie and push my way through that door. . . . My hope is that the little girls watching tonight will know that I have now opened a lot of those doors and hopefully it’s easier for you, that we worked hard enough. My ultimate dream is that one day . . . there will be no doors to open, only doorways to walk through and that our dreams can be realized faster and without any of the struggle because of the color of our skin.”

Clad in a stunning pink Neim Khan dress, Alicia Keys took the stage shortly thereafter and echoed Banks: “Right now my heart overflows. . .  . Look how beautiful we are. Look how spectacular we are. Look how unbelievably unstoppable we are. All this beautiful diversity I’ve seen here tonight is so inspiring—all ages, all backgrounds, all walks of life. When do we get a chance to get in a room together like this? We don’t! Celebrate each other for everything.”

Idris Elba chas with Mario Van Peebles. Van Peebles reflected "What I love about DC is DC keeps the culture. This is one of the rare places you can go around the world that you can still hear jazz. DC has preserved a lot of the music."

Ratings:

Boldface names: 4.5 out of 5
Swankiness: 4.5 out of 5
Food and drink: 2 out of 5
Exclusivity: 4.5 out of 5
Total score: 15.5 out of 20

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Posted by: ugg boots, Jan 20, 2010 11:40:54 PM

I REALLY LIKED THE PERFORMANCES OF THE ARTIST WHO PERFORMED ON THE BET AWARDS TO BE PRECISE WYCLEF’S PERFORMANCE. I WANT TO WATCH HIS PERFORMANCE AGAIN BUT ANY TIME I GET TO THE INTERNET NO VIDEOS HAVE POSTED. WHERE CAN I GET TO WATCH IT AGAIN?

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Posted by: cheap uggs online, Dec 10, 2009 10:57:16 PM

We have lost the King of Pop but i will like to request if Usher Raymond could give the world some kind of performance at the BET awards, in memorial of the late Micheal Jackson and the reason i say Usher Raymond is because, he is the only entertainer that i personally feel like will represent Micheal Jackson and his magnificent legend at the BET awards.

Posted by: Ms.Miami, Jun 26, 2009 04:05:00 PM

I surely hope mary j not trying to b nobody role model and i was a very hugh fan of hers until she refuse keyshia cole to sing one of her song saying she wants to be her i don’t know what is going on with the women in this world today the young are supposed to look up to the older people, but when you have the older people acting look fools you wonder what is really going on, i sincerly hope i don’t act this way when im older. No wonder the young are so disrespectiful and sometimes don’t care, but one thing i do know that when you go thur ruff times in life it’s to make you strong. When god give you a blessing he is setting u up to bless somebody else. When you go thur something in life it’s not for nothing you think about it, it’s to help somebody with the same thing you have been thur, etta james and mary j needs to keep on living and grow up you should be teaching and leading not being lead we are always going to be learning something new everyday, oh didn’t mary say she wanted to be like anita baker,stop stepping down on people we all need help getting up sometimes god bless all his people.

Posted by: sistah flo, Feb 09, 2009 07:58:40 PM

I can I get tickets for the BET Honors show at the Warner Theater

Posted by: Gwen Harris, Dec 28, 2008 11:07:33 AM

How do I get a free seat at the 2009 BET Honors awards to be a seat filler

Posted by: Jamice Hunter, Dec 26, 2008 06:58:21 AM

i would like our next president sen. barak obama to make cameo appearance there.
thank you

Posted by: mjnnie bennett, Feb 16, 2008 09:19:20 PM

I WOULD LIKE OUR NEXT PRESIDENT TO MAKE A CAMEO
THERE .MR. BARAK OBAMA.
THANK YOU

Posted by: MINNIE BENNETT, Feb 16, 2008 08:51:09 PM

how do you find out about events like this before they happen?

Posted by: C. Baptiste-Williams, Jan 14, 2008 07:47:53 PM

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