2022 BET Awards
The 22nd Black Entertainment Television (BET) Awards is set to air Sunday June 26th, 2022, at 7pm Central Standard Time (CST). The ceremony will be hosted by actress and activist Taraji P. Henson at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles, California.
Earlier this month, BET announced the artists nominated for each category. According to a press release by BET.com, “this year’s nominees reflect an abundance of creative expression and Black excellence across music, television, film, and sports.”
The awards recently made headlines when it was revealed that Grammy Award winning rap artist Lil Nas X did not receive a single nomination and it was implied that it was because of his identity as an openly gay man. Andre Wheeler, in his 2022 article for The Guardian, “‘Thank you BET. Zero nominations again’: Lil Nas X says he’s too queer for Black awards show”, writes, “Many of the rapper’s fans found the shut-out odd. He is, they pointed out, in the middle of a highly successful campaign (for the genre-spanning album Montero) that includes multiple Grammy nominations, two No 1 singles in the US, and a forthcoming world tour… the rapper delivered a conversation-starting performance at last year’s BET awards ceremony that included pyrotechnics, an army of scantily clad men, and a tongue-heavy, same-sex kiss.”
BET later released a statement responding to Lil Nas X’s claims. “At BET, we are passionate advocates for the wonderful diversity that exists within our community. We are committed to using all of our platforms to provide visibility and inclusion for all of the many intersections of the Black community.”
BET has been in operation since 1980 and quickly founded itself on the principle of providing content exclusively for and by African American/Black people. Four decades into its existence, the content as well as the audience as evolved. Nas X’s claims of the network not supporting Black queer artists is echoed by the fact that there has never been any original television show or film produced by the network to reflect this audience.
Homophobia is the Black community is not a new issue, especially in the year 2022. Members of cisgendered and heteronormative communities within a minority gaze have often denounced issues of sexual orientation. Regarding the black community, there is much to be unpacked. From traditional family practices to the role of the church, much is to be examined as to why there is still a fragile relationship between race and sexual orientation in the Black community.
Echoed through the historical words of past activists Bayard Rustin and James Baldwin, Lil Nas X’s argument reveals the very unfinished legacy of homophobia within the Black community.
