Wizkid, Yemi Alade lose out on BET Awards… and other highlights

The BET Awards took place on Sunday June 28 in Los Angeles and the two Nigerian acts nominated for the award of Best International Act Africa, Yemi Alade and Wizkid, lost to Ghana’s Dancehall artiste, Stonebwoy.

The artiste, who revealed before the award that he suffers a mental illness known as bipolar disorder, dedicated his award to his home country Ghana and the victims of the recent flooding disaster.

Other big winners on the night were Beyonce as Best Female R&B/Pop Artiste and Video of the year for 7/11; and Nicki Minaj, who won  Best Female Hip hop Artiste and she brought her mother Carol up on stage to thank her for her support.

Nicki also won the Viewer’s Choice Award for her song Only, featuring Drake, Lil Wayne and Chris Brown. Chris Brown took home an award for Best Male R&B/Pop Act, while Sam Smith won Best nNw Artiste.

Common and John legend won for best collaboration for their Selma Soundtrack Glory, while the movie also won in the Best Movie category.

This year’s BET Awards was a special event celebrating 15 years of the awards. The milestone was celebrated with exciting throwback and tribute performances that made the highlights of the event.

Janet Jackson was presented with the inaugural Ultimate Icon: Music Dance Visual Prize after a special dance tribute performance to the 49-year-old by Ciara, Jason Derulo and Tinashe, with her parents present.

Music impresario Diddy got the audience in the auditorium going with a surprise performance with former Bad Boy artists Mase, Faith Evans and Lil’ Kim in celebration of Bad Boy records’ 20th anniversary. Together, they performed a medley of classic songs like It’s All About the Benjamins, Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems and Love Like This Before.

Diddy had an embarrassing moment during the performance when he fell through a hole on stage and disappeared from view.

On the playful side, Rihanna carried a role of Duct tape around and was duct-taping celebrities at the event. World championship boxer had his mouth and hands bound by Rihanna, and it’s anybody’s guess why she was carrying duct tape around with her.

In celebration of Supreme Court judgement legalizing gay marriage throughout the United States, Amber Rose and her close friend Blac Chyna attended the event as a Lesbian couple (even though they are not actually lesbians).