A how-to: BET pulls off artistic, virtual, political success

NEW YORK — You’d think trying to produce the 2020 BET Awards during the coronavirus pandemic would be filled with restrictions, but instead, show producers took another approach: We’re not limited to a single stage, so sky’s the limit and let your creative minds run free. Orlando said though other networks canceled awards shows and special events, BET was always going to try to hold on: “Never in my mind was it that we would cancel it.” From its opening number, which included performers like Chuck D, Nas, Questlove and 12-year-old sensation Keedron Bryant rapping and singing about the Black experience to DaBaby’s gripping performance as he emulated the last few moments of George Floyd’s life by rapping as a police officer pressed his knee on his neck, the BET Awards stood out in major way. On Monday morning TV Guide ran the headline: “The 2020 BET Awards Set a Bar for Award Shows in the COVID-19 Era.” NME called the show “absolutely vital.” “Rather than the lo-fi, at-home performances from couches and kitchens that have become standard television fare during the Covid-19 crisis, BET provided budgets for its far-flung talent to produce remote segments that were often more like mini-music videos than the typically raw and sometimes glitchy live awards-show stagings,” the New York Times reported. Orlando said BET’s nicely produced special “Saving Our Selves: A BET COVID-19 Relief,” which aired in April, helped the team prep for the BET Awards. The BET Awards have always been a stage where Black artists have spoken and sang about race, disparities and more, from Kendrick Lamar rapping on top of a police car with a large American flag waving behind him to Janelle Monae and Jidenna wearing large “I’m a Classic Man” signs around their necks, a reference to the historic “I Am a Man” civil rights era protest signs.