They see us winning these awards … Billy Porter was still only able to tell us that he had HIV last year. “When you think about the acceptance of us, yeah, of course there’s progress,” he said, “because they see us on these shows. While the acceptance is visible for some Black queer artists such as Lil Nas X, Frank Ocean and Janelle Monae, Kennedy said, progress is slow because the LGBTQ community was “not meant to be accepted.” He said that societal acceptance of Black queer men, in particular, tends to only last until people are reminded of their sexuality and that support quickly dissipates. “It’s just blatant homophobia,” Owens said. “There’s no way to rationalize it,” said Owens, author of the upcoming book, “ The Case for Cancel Culture.” “It was a homophobic decision.” No one cheered louder that night than BET.”Įrnest Owens, an editor at large for Philadelphia Magazine who is gay, said BET’s statement is “hollow” and that it suggests that there is lack of LGBTQ+ individuals involved in the decision-making process within BET’s Voting Academy. “He was nominated for a Best New Artist BET Award in 2020, and we proudly showcased his extraordinary talent and creativity on the show twice: he performed ‘Old Town Road’ with Billy Ray Cyrus at ‘BET Awards’ 2019 and his ‘BET Awards’ 2021 performance was a highlight of our show.
Following Lil Nas X’s released teaser video, BET said in a statement Wednesday that the nominees were chosen by BET’s Voting Academy - a group of 500 professionals in the entertainment industry - and that “no one from BET serves as a member of the Voting Academy.”