*. News: Drake Apologizes for BET Awards Performance
July 3rd, 2009 | Published in News | 24 Comments
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.
“That…was a terrible idea that I’ll never do to myself again. But I was being pressed from different areas to perform, and I think what really happened at the BET Awards is with the passing of Mike, the climate really changed, as far as the award show goes,” he told Complex. “I don’t think it called for us to perform “Every Girl” and “Always Strapped,” and I think it was an award show filled with tributes and music and these genuine heartfelt speeches. And to sort of climax out of a very tongue-n-cheek point, and then people misconstruing Wayne’s daughters and her friends coming out on stage — it was just timed very poorly and it definitely wasn’t planned like that, but with that being said, it is what is. I believe in Wayne and myself and it’s nothing we can’t bounce back from. To anyone who was offended, my personal apologies, it wasn’t intended to offend anybody.”
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.
July 3rd, 2009at 1:05 PM(#)
The BET awards were lame anyways, because it was to messy. Highlights were def my dudes Songz and Drake…..
July 3rd, 2009at 1:31 PM(#)
Good dude. Glad he stepped up and apologized [for something he had no control over].
July 3rd, 2009at 2:59 PM(#)
LOL @ he had no control over…you must be kidding. He’s already admitted he shouldn’t have performed period. He didn’t make excuses and neither should you. Consider this a lesson learned.
July 3rd, 2009at 4:44 PM(#)
I was referring to the young girls coming out onto the stage during the “Every Girl” portion… I’m aware that he acknowledges that he shouldn’t have performed in the first place. Thanks.
July 3rd, 2009at 5:00 PM(#)
There was a article that said Wayne’s daughter was upset cuz she couldn’t come on stage when he accepted his award because she was sitting so far back ; they said she was crying backstage and Wayne hated seeing his daughter cry – wanted her to stop&thus told her to come on stage when he was performing. She took it into her own hands to invite her firends and it tunred into this….wasn’t Drakes fault at all.
July 3rd, 2009at 5:07 PM(#)
WELL.. I KNEW DEY HAD TO B RELATED TO WAYNE…AND HEY SH** HAPEENS IT WASNT PLANNED PROPERLY-IT HAPPENED —ITS OVER WIT(EVEN DOE DEY STILL MIGHT MENTION IT)& CONTINUE TO LEARN FROM SH** LIKE DIS…AND CONTINUE TO B DA GREATEST****TEAM DRAKE*** ___MEKA__
July 3rd, 2009at 5:14 PM(#)
I agree w/ y’all.
July 3rd, 2009at 5:20 PM(#)
Since Michael Jackson passed away just 4 days before tha Award Show, it changed tha whole game plan of tha show. Even tho it was kinda sloppy, I think Jamie Foxx and tha BET Production team did a GREAT job to switch up tha whole show in just a matter of days! I believe that Drake apologizes for not giving high energy like he usually does because of his torn ACL. He had no control on tha production what so ever…Once again, since tha passing of MJ, the atmosphere of tha award show was very low so Young Money’s song probably were not appropriate at tha time.
July 3rd, 2009at 6:09 PM(#)
Mann fuckk dat…
i cann see if it was random lil girls …
it was waynes dauthers…nd what not.
aint like the song was direcetd toward them.
bet need to stop girlin…
drake keep doin ya thing you raw ass shxt….foreal!
July 3rd, 2009at 6:13 PM(#)
i’m glad they apologized :)
now sumone needs to apologize for that tragedy of a “Best I Ever Had” video lol EPIC FAIL!
July 3rd, 2009at 6:39 PM(#)
Personalllyyyyy, i think it was the rigt thing to apologize bout the whole thing to save him for not being in the spotlight. But the BET awards was kinda boring i mean i love michael jackson to death. But i think it was too much tribute and it killed the whole thriller of BET awards. Drake did his thing and Wayne so who cares bout what thy did!!!! They did good and i LOVE them BOUT to death..
keep repn YOUNG MONEYYYY!! hahaha.=)
July 3rd, 2009at 7:11 PM(#)
i agree.
it was inapproapiate.
they shouldnt have sang those songs.
but i still love me some Drake.
July 3rd, 2009at 8:01 PM(#)
I have to be honest. The girls coming on stage went COMPLETELY over my head at first. I don’t even remember when they came out, but I DO remember Drake leaving the stage right after “Every Girl.” I assume he left the stage after that because of both the girls being out there and his ACL since everybody else was around for “Always Strapped.”
Also, I may be remember wrong, but didn’t Wayne’s daughter come up with him for his first award? I remember him holding her hand and everything.
July 3rd, 2009at 10:17 PM(#)
LMAO drake you did not do nothing we still love ya muah
July 3rd, 2009at 11:04 PM(#)
Man ima fan of drake nd I have to say that he aint the same I feel he is gettin sucked into this commercial music nd shit wen room for imporvement came out he was on this super cool shit rhymin over these cool but laid back beats like come winter which told stories nd then comeback season he stayed constistent changed up a lil gave us some more lyrical ability nd use some harder beats like the song comeback season but there was still that super cool shit like give ya nd still had that real hip hop like think good thoughts so far gone which I feel is a classic some shit but recently ur decision have been bad the young money signing which I understand is because he took u on the road but like i feel like he jus fuckin wit you cus he tryna make sure u dnt get ur shine he’s gonna change u shud be on your own thing on a label where u aint part of garbage team like ym u sed u wnt the ym label on your album wat about atf what about jd era nickelus f ya real team nick was reppin u b4 anyone nd he wasn’t even in ya video or in so far gone u aint give him credit for helpin u wit ya rap skills I mean sure u wrote one blog about sayin he was ya one of ya mentors now u givin all ya credit to a dude u sound exactly like Drake man come back to the people ATF all day
July 4th, 2009at 12:07 AM(#)
I agree w. na 103%. I realllly feel like Drake isn’t the same Drake that I’ve been following all these years. He’s been letting me down these past weeks. First, he was scheduled to appear the the Funk Master Flex Car Show in Jersey.. came for 20 minutes, didn’t show his face and left. Then the BET Awards. Then signing with Young Money. I feel like hangin with Wayne and all the groupies, fame and spotlight is starting to get to his head a bit. I was really hoping he’d be different from the rest and stay humble and respectable. The Drake that I see now is slowly drifiting away from those characteristics.. I still love him, nonetheless. I just hope that this phase is shortlived.
July 4th, 2009at 2:52 AM(#)
Best I ever had was a ….okay song to sing.
Every girl&Always strapped ….not so much.
July 4th, 2009at 6:49 PM(#)
I’m glad he apologized. I shows he gives a damn about his reputation. The award show sucked big time but at least people who didn’t know him before hand know he’s not the type of artist to perform with preteens. Lil Wayne needs to issue one too, but I won’t hold my breath.
Anyway, next.
I still with he’d of signed elsewhere.
July 4th, 2009at 6:50 PM(#)
Oops that’s *it shows.
July 4th, 2009at 10:20 PM(#)
The blame should be placed on BET and not Drake..
BET planned it and knew they would preform it.. seeing that they censored the majority of the song.They should have used proper judgment and told them not preform.
July 5th, 2009at 10:58 PM(#)
I am glad he apologized. It is the correct move.
We need to realize that the majority of people that watched the BET awards are not going to google search and get on a hip hop blog or this website and research what happened on the show or realize that it was lil wayne’s daughter and her friends. And on an even more important note, no one cares. People saw what they saw, which was preteen girls on stage with grown men singing “I just wanna love every girl in the world.” And they saw it as inappropriate (and it was). And BET is going to cover themselves regardless. They are a billion-dollar business.
Drake is now a business, and not just the artist we love. He has a deal. I am glad he is (somewhat) thinking like it. Now if only he’ll apologize/redo the Best I Ever had video…or hurry up and put out a new video for a new single, cuz people need to forget about that one quick.
July 6th, 2009at 9:53 PM(#)
GOD IS DRAKE LIKE NOT DOING ANYTHING , THIS UPDATE IS OLLDDDD .
July 7th, 2009at 1:06 AM(#)
You know what for real, i commend drake for apologizing, and i think he do care about his reputation also and that was a good look for him to do that, and regardless of who kids it was i dont care if it was jesus kids, they shouldnt have been on the stage with grown men, and that kinda profanity in those types of clothing, it wont a good look i dont care who get mad. But its over and he apologized and thats all that matter, but one more thing for the comment about lil wayne daughter was upset that she couldnt get on the stage when her dad accepted the award was a lie she did get on that stage with her father, and even if she didnt she just would have cried cause she has gotten up there plenty of times before, and she dont always have to hit that stage everytime he goes up to do something or accept a award. An even more she is too old to be crying like that for something so petty, come one. Please come again with an better excuse as to why she was up there instead of that one. It just shows how much respect he has for his own child, cause mine would have been standing down in the audience clapping like the rest of the audience was. But anyways past that, drake God bless and u did the right thing sweetie, i was disappointed with u but u apologized and i believe it was genuwine and im moving one, however the BET awards should have apologized for more than what drake and lil wayne and them did, they should have apologized for that wack tribute they put on. An even though they had little time to get it together they should have just done something at the end , maybe have some of the artist get on the stage and sing we are the world, and yes jamie foxx did good with michael impression, they should have kept that and janet, and thats it , and then announced that because of the sudden death of michael and the bet awards already in place that they will do a tribute and later date, and the date will be announced in the near future, and they should have just let it alone, cause what they did was totally wrong and disrespectful to michael jackson. So they should have apologized for more than what drake and them did. And for them not letting chris brown perform cause of jayz was totally wrong, im sure he would have done a better job than that wack mess, that grandpa jayz did.But God bless. Michael i love u baby, RIP!
July 7th, 2009at 10:55 AM(#)
yeah, the little girls on stage … not a good look. at all.
glad drake stepped up on that. in reality, none of them should have performed because none of the songs matched the theme of the awards that night. i still commend drake for wanting to perform through his injury, though.
i don’t know how i feel about him being signed to YM anymore. even though it’s a joint venture, i really hope that he remains Drake. Aubrey Drake Graham, and not some washed out version of who he started as.
I pray that “Thank Me Later” will truly be something music fans everywhere can be thankful for.