From AllHipHop.com
By Houston Williams
Friday, July 3, 2009
BET has expressed remorse over a performance by Lil Wayne, Drake and Young Money Records that involved underage girls during songs “Best I Ever Had” and “Every Girl.”
The songs, which have overt sexual references, were performed during the Sunday BET Awards ’09 show as a bevy of young girls danced on stage. The group of girls consisted of Lil Wayne’s daughters and her friends.
In an exclusive statement, BET has responded to the criticism and the public outcry over the segment.
“BET Networks deeply regrets the performance by Young Money at the BET AWARDS ’09 (featuring Lil Wayne, Drake, Gudda Gudda and Mack Maine),” a BET representative told AllHipHop.com exclusively. “Elements of the performance were unplanned and should not have happened.”
In the aftermath of the show, many have expressed outrage over the outing by Young Money, which was set amid a show dedicated to the late Michael Jackson.
Activist and filmmaker Byron Hurt lambasted the network earlier in the week in an open letter to Debra Lee, the President and Chief Executive Officer of BET Holdings, Inc.
“In a culture where one out of four girls and women are either raped or sexually assaulted – and where manipulative men routinely traffic vulnerable women into the sex industry – it is not okay that BET allowed this to happen,” Hurt said. “BET owes its entire audience – particularly girls and women around the world – an apology for its failure to intervene.”
A representative said generally the company has found such opinions useful.
“We value and appreciate the feedback from our viewers and have edited Young Money’s performance for all BET Awards ’09 encore presentations.”
Drake has apologized and taken responsibility for the performance, admitting it was in poor taste…
An edited version of the show will re-air on Monday July 6. The BET Awards saw a 61-percent increase in viewers this year fueled by the sudden death of Michael Jackson. Ten percent of all turned on television sets watched the show Sunday, a remarkably high number.
Wasn't it a Michael Jackson tribute? Another aspect of MJ's legacy is his sexually inappropriate behavior with children. I'm understanding of the community giving MJ some love for all his genius. But isn't there a bit of irony that folks can get so upset about Young Money tastelessly cavorting with young girls while at the same time damn near everyone is giving MJ a pass for tastelessly cavorting with young boys. Truly, YM would not have been able to give that performance if not for MJ.
I ordered BET because they were going to present something special for Michael, after I saw that group and mostly the whole show, I was so sorry I ordered that channel, it was disgusting.