In a statement obtained by PEOPLE, the network cited technical difficulties as the cause behind the R&B icon’s speech cutting out for viewers who were watching it at home, saying, “Due to an audio malfunction during the LIVE telecast, portions of his speech were inadvertently stop.
A spokesperson for BET added in the statement, “Celebrating global icon USHER on our stage with a Star studded tribute and having him accept his award with a heartfelt speech was an honor… We extend our sincere apologies to USHER as we couldn’t be more grateful for his participation in Culture’s Biggest Night.”
Usher accepts the Lifetime Achievement Award on stage during the 2024 BET Awards at Peacock Theater on June 30, 2024
viewers watching the live program noticed parts of it were not audible, at first due to language, before about four minutes were completely muted. Up until that point, the music legend, 45, talked about the importance of present fathers while reflecting on growing up without his own.
“I was trying to make sense of this name that a man gave me that didn’t stick around because he didn’t love — or at least that was my perception of it,” said Usher, “because I had to live long enough to understand that you have to have a forgiving heart in order to understand the true pitfalls and hardships of a Black man in America. And my father, he was a product of that.”
Usher added: “He made a lot of decisions — he made a lot of choices — and the one that probably hurt and helped me at the same time was to stay away.”
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During the parts of the speech that were muted, Usher recalled speaking his ambitious career goals into existence at a young age and how growth helped him now embrace being “the bastard of Usher.”
“I made something of it, and I did that because my mother, she subbed in two ways,” the performer shared while thanking his mom and former manager, Jonetta Patton. “She was a mother and a father at the same time. This is the power of a Black woman in America.”
Usher with his wife Jennifer Goicoechea Raymond and family arrive for the 2024 BET Awards in Los Angeles on 30 June 2024.
Usher also thanked “the ones who are not here to be able to see this moment … some of whom are fathers or were like fathers to me,” he added, naming legendary figures like Quincy Jones, the late Harry Belafonte and the “Black Godfather” of entertainment, Clarence Avant. He also honored his late grandmother, Ernestine “Tina” Carter — who died in December 2022 at the age of 87 — for all of the “wonderful things” that have happened in his life.
Once the audio of his speech was fully restored, Usher tied his touching words back to fatherhood and raising his four kids, sons Cinco, 16, and Naviyd, 15, who were in the audience (plus wife Jenn Goicoechea Raymond), and daughter Sovereign, 3, son Sire, 2, who were left home
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He finished by telling the audience, “We got to be willing to forgive. We got to be willing to be open. I’m telling you you’re standing before a man who had to forgive a man who never showed up ever. And look what I made with it.”
In addition to his Lifetime Achievement Award, Usher also took home the 2024 BET award for best male R&B/pop artist. Next up, the Coming Home singer is performing at the 2024 ESSENCE Festival of Culture — which takes place in New Orleans from July 4-7 — in celebration of the 20th anniversary of his diamond-certified Confessions album. He’ll then kick off his highly anticipated Past Present Future tour later this summer
