Following Usher’s acceptance speech for his BET Lifetime Achievement Award, viewers commented on the heavy censorship used during his speech. The singer was honoured at the BET Awards ceremony on June 30, where he also won the Best Male R&B/Pop Artist award and received nominations for three more. During his acceptance speech, he swore in reference to his estranged father, leaving many viewers unable to understand what he was saying due to BET censoring him.
Journalist, Philip Lewis shared his frustration towards the censorship on X/Twitter, questioning as to “why is America so weird about curse words”. He was not the only one to share his disappointment online, with many other viewers poking fun at BET. Lena even shared a video on Twitter of the supposed “censor person” in the back during Usher’s speech.
Thankfully, the microphones were on during his tribute performance, which included a number of other notable singers performing Usher’s biggest hits such as Childish Gambino, Keke Palmer, Tinashe and Latto. Moving to social media, Usher described the tribute as “amazing” and thanked those involved for creating the moment.
BET has since uploaded the full uncensored speech to YouTube. This isn’t the first technical difficulty Usher has encountered recently, as Latto stepped in to help with his performance of “Superstar” at 107.9’s Birthday Bash in Atlanta, Georgia, last month, as reported by The Root.
Usher is currently preparing for his forthcoming North American tour, starting in August, with the first three dates set in Atlanta’s State Farm Arena. It will finish with three shows at the Toyota Center in Houston at the end of November, with tour tickets available here. The artist’s UK and European tour will commence in March next year, with The O2 in London being the first of eight tour dates. The tour will conclude back at the location in May, with two shows. Tickets for the shows are available here
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