NPR

BET Awards Wields, And Exerts, Its Influence Beyond Black America

No matter how loved or loathed, last night's show proves why it's often the most talked-about night in pop.
DJ Khaled, backstage at the 2017 BET Awards, helped set the stage for one of the year's biggest barometers of pop. / Neilson Barnard / Getty Images

The BET Awards, like black America, is never a monolithic affair.

Every year the show, airing live from L.A., is the most talked-about event in black music which, by extension, often means its impact reverberates throughout the pop sphere. The New York Times' Jon Caramanica said as much last February, when he wrote that the Grammy's would do well to look to BET (Black Entertainment Television) — "which has three award-show franchises reverent of music and its performers" — for inspiration.

The show's annual attempt

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from NPR

NPR2 min read
FAA Is Investigating Boeing For Apparent Missed Inspections On 787 Dreamliner
The FAA says Boeing informed the agency in April that required inspections to confirm that the wings were properly bonded to the carbon fiber fuselage on certain 787 jets were not completed.
NPR3 min read
Floods In Southern Brazil Kill At Least 75 People Over 7 Days
Massive floods in Brazil's southern Rio Grande do Sul state have killed at least 75 people over the last seven days, and another 103 were reported missing, local authorities said Sunday.
NPR5 min readIndustries
China Makes Cheap Electric Vehicles. Why Can't American Shoppers Buy Them?
American drivers want cheap EVs. Chinese automakers are building them. But you can't buy them in the U.S., thanks to tariffs in the name of U.S. jobs and national security. Two car shoppers weigh in.

Related Books & Audiobooks