The 2024 BET Awards went down in Los Angeles, CA on Sunday, bringing the biggest names in entertainment together at The Peacock Theater.
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None other than Megan Thee Stallion opened the show, performing a medley of some of her latest hits including “BOA,” “HISS.”
She also popped out later that night to assist GloRilla during her performance of “Wanna Be.”
Another exciting performance came when Latto took the stage to perform her track, “Sunday Service.”
One of the biggest stars of the moment, Shaboozey, also made his way to the stage, performing his hit “Tipsy” and a special mashup of “A Bar Song” with J-KWON.
Other big moments from the evening came as Victoria Monét, Ice Spice, Sexyy Red, YG Marley, Tyla, and more took the stage with exciting renditions of their biggest tracks.
Will Smith even performed, rapping his new single, “You Can Make It” alongside Kirk Franklin, Chandler Moore, and the Sunday Service Choir.
Fresh off the success of Bad Boys: Ride or Die Will Smith returned to music with his gospel-leaning single, “You Can Make It” in collaboration with artist Fridayy that “aims to empower and remind listeners of their inner strength to overcome hardships.”
A press release notes that the song marks Will’s first independent music release.
Still, the most memorable moment of the evening came when a stacked lineup of performers took the stage to pay tribute to none other than Usher, who received this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Childish Gambino kicked things off by singing Usher’s 2002 hit, “U Don’t Have To Call,” before Keke Palmer joined him for a rendition of “You Make Me Wanna…”
Summer Walker took the stage to sing her “Good Good” collaboration from Usher’s 2023 album Coming Home, which was followed up by Coco Jones emerging from the crowd to sing, “There Goes My Baby.”
The Marsha Ambrosius performed a cover of “Superstar,” Chloe Bailey sang, “Good Kisser,” and Tinashe took the stage for, “Nice & Slow.”
The tribute was topped off by Teyana Taylor and Victoria Monét coming together to collaborate on “Bad Girl,” before Latto closed the show with a performance of Usher’s hit, “Yeah!”
The Usher tribute, in particular, was the source of a lot of chatter online, with some fans questioning the stars who took the stage to represent the R&B legend.
Durand Bernarr and Avery Wilson even took to social media to announce that they were available to take part in the performance, which caused fans to flood their replies in agreement that they both would have killed it.
BET even used Bernarr in the promotional skit for Usher’s tribute, which he called “clickbait” in response to one fan asking about the confusing promo.
Check out more responses to the Usher tribute down below: