BET Suspends Two Popular Awards Shows

BET logo (Photo; BET website)

BET is hitting a pause on two award shows that have been apart of the culture for a long time. The BET Hip-Hop Awards and the Soul Train Awards have both reportedly been suspended indefinitely according to the network.

BET CEO Scott Mills confirmed the report in an interview with Billboard, saying, “So for BET linear, we have suspended the Soul Train and Hip-Hop award shows. But we have a team that’s actively thinking about where those award shows might best live as the media climate continues to evolve. They aren’t gone. And we also still have the NAACP Image Awards and the Stellar Awards.”

Mills added, “It’s less about them being no longer and more about our team having to reimagine them for this changing media landscape that we find ourselves in. I think what we’re going to see are more people taking franchises and saying, ‘This might have started on linear television, but now I’m going to move it to another space. Do I move it to streaming? Or do I move it to another platform?’”

The BET Hip Hop Awards launched in 2006, and the Soul Train Awards aired on WGN America in 1987 before being aired on the network in 2009. For decades, both shows have celebrated artists, actors, athletes, and more contributions to Black culture and music. Recently the original BET Awards show celebrated 25 years.