Cissy Houston’s tribute to her late daughter was the emotional highlight of the BET Awards, a show that was defined by extended bleeps and the vulgarities that censors failed to catch on stage throughout the night.
The night also featured some tributes to deceased greats: Chante Moore performed a medley of Donna Summer’s hits and Valerie Simpson sang a song in honour of her husband and writing partner Nick Ashford
Whitney Houston’s mother gave a rousing performance of Bridge Over Troubled Water that left the crowd in tears, including Beyonce and Melanie Fiona.
Mariah Carey opened the tribute with memories of her friend. She was followed by a moving number by Monica.
Brandy, heavily influenced by Whitney Houston, sang two of the late singer’s hits. Chaka Khan blazed the stage with I’m Every Woman, which Houston remade. Gary Houston, Whitney’s brother, also performed.
But the nearly-four-hour BET Awards was more like the Bleep Awards, as entire segments of performances from Nicki Minaj to Rick Ross were muted out due to the foul language used.
It started during the opening number by Kanye West’s GOOD music group, which included Big Sean, Pusha T and 2 Chainz. There were long moments of censored silence when the rappers performed Mercy, though not all the offending words were bleeped out.
Moments later, Samuel L. Jackson, the show’s host, was joined by Spike Lee as they did a comedic version of Jay-Z and West’s hit song ... In Paris, to laughs.
The censor police also worked overtime when Rick Ross performed with his Maybach Music Group and during Minaj’s performance and acceptance speech for best female hip-hop artist. Minaj’s win was her third consecutive time taking the prize.
“I really, really appreciate BET for keeping this category alive, and I appreciate all the female rappers doing their thing, past, present and future,” she said, before uttering an obscenity.
West and Jay-Z won the ceremony’s top prize, earning video of the year for Otis. They also won best group.
West, who was up for seven awards, was the top nominee. Beyonce was the second most nominated act with six. She won video director of the year (along with Alan Ferguson) and best female R&B artist and thanked the genre and her female influences.
“I fell in love with music by listening to R&B. It’s the core of who I am,” she said, giving special votes of thanks to Lauryn Hill, Mary J. Blige and Whitney Houston, “my angel”.
When she lost video of the year to Jay-Z and West, she playfully hit her husband and laughed.
The joking continued. Moments later, as West was giving his acceptance speech, Jay-Z interrupted him and said: “Excuse me, Kanye, I’m gonna let you continue, but ...”, and the audience erupted with laughter, recalling West’s interruption of Taylor Swift’s MTV Video Music Awards speech a few years ago.
Chris Brown was also a double winner. Kevin Hart – who hosted the awards last year – also won for best actor, Big Sean was named best new artist and Wale and Miguel’s smooth hit Lotus Flower Bomb won best collaboration.
The night also featured some tributes to deceased greats: Chante Moore performed a medley of Donna Summer’s hits and Valerie Simpson sang a song in honour of her husband and writing partner Nick Ashford.
Don Cornelius, Dick Clark and Hal Jackson were remembered as well. Even West offered tributes: after his performance, he name-dropped Rodney King and Houston in a verse that got cheers from the crowd, including his girlfriend, Kim Kardashian.