Jackson honored at BET Awards
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES
It was a night of comebacks at the BET Awards, and none more unexpected than Chris Brown performing an emotional tribute to Michael Jackson.
Sunday’s ceremony at the Shrine Auditorium began with a comeback: Kanye West opened the show atop a volcano onstage in his first TV appearance since dissing Taylor Swift at last year’s MTV Video Music Awards.
Host Queen Latifah also was musical, first singing to famous members of the audience, then returning to her rap roots and rhyming about the royalty in the audience: herself and Prince, who is to receive BET’s lifetime achievement award.
Drake, who was named best male hip-hop artist, performed his hit “Thank Me Later.”
Alicia Keys performed a medley of her hits, bookended by two awards. She won for female R&B artist and best collaboration for her song with Jay-Z, “Empire State of Mind.”
John Legend was presented with BET’s humanitarian award for his work on the Show Me campaign, which aims to eradicate poverty worldwide through education and health care.
The BET Awards honor the year’s best in music, sports and film in 19 categories.
Trey Songz was named best male R&B artist, Serena Williams won sportswoman of the year and LeBron James was sportsman of the year.
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