Usher accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2024 BET Awards on Sunday night (June 30) at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, but the audio cut out for a good chunk of his speech for those watching at home.
“It's great to see him get the flowers while the garden is still growing, so keep growing them flowers,” Terry Lewis said at the beginning of the segments. While he and Jimmy Jam reported producing one of Usher's greatest records that was part of his performance – “Bad Girl” from his 2004 magnum opus Confessions — enlisted two other influential men in the R&B superstar's life to present him with the prestigious honor: LA Reid and Babyface. And while the gentlemen honored Usher's mother, Jonnetta Patton, for bringing him into this world and being the “original mom”, Babyface added that she was “part of your musical birth and you deserve this prestigious award.”
Usher took the stage for his roughly 12-minute acceptance speech, but about four minutes of it was largely inaudible to those not in the theater with him. (Advertising sign has reached out to BET for comment about the audio during Usher's speech.)
“Getting here certainly wasn't easy, but it was worth it. … I didn't write anything because I wanted this moment to be exactly what it was: present. Right now, how I feel and the appreciation I have for every single person who had anything to do with this moment tonight and the 30+ year career I'm celebrating. … I don't know, man, is it too early for me to get it? Because I still run and shoot and I still love this s–t like I did when I was eight years old,” he began.
He later explained how he initially struggled to understand his birth name, which Usher said was given to him by a man who didn't like or care about him. “Or at least, that was my perception, because I had to live long enough to understand that you have to have a forgiving heart to understand the true pitfalls and hardships of being a black person in America,” the eight said. -time Grammy winner. “And my father, he was a product of that. He made a lot of decisions, made a lot of choices, and what probably hurt and helped me at the same time was staying away. But that's part of the reason I say this is the year of the father, where all fathers need to stand up for their sons and daughters and be the man they need them to be for them.”
While praising Jam, Lewis, Reid and Babyface for helping to shape his successful career, Usher described them as “the guys who motivated me, who talked to me, who talked to me, who were solid no matter what they were indifferent. up might have been — sorry, I curse to let you know how I really feel” while the “f–k” was censored, but a subsequent “s–t” was not. Nearly four minutes into his speech, Usher's speech began cutting in and out for nearly four minutes straight.
But according to a Advertising sign reporter during the awards show, Usher said “fk” and “motherf-ker” once, while barely finding a slur in his entire speech.
When the sound was restored, Usher called out to Usher's oldest sons “Cinco” Raymond V and Nayvid Ely Raymond, who were in the front row, as well as his son Sire Castrello Raymond and daughter Sovereign Bo Raymond, who were at home. “It's 100% all about my kids and making sure they understand that your dreams can come true if you really commit, if you commit to it, if you commit to something and find a passion and stay committed to it, that could possibly be you This could be your moment. Not on this stage, because I'm the only one who's going to have that,” he joked.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/awards/usher-2024-bet-awards-lifetime-achievement-speech-cuts-out-1235721302/
