Prince died in April of an accidental overdose of opioid fetanyl. There was no subtlety to the political messages during this year’s award show with multiple references to the upcoming presidential election – none of them in favour of presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. The second piece featured singer Tori Kelly alongside a purple-suited Stevie Wonder for a rendition of “Take Me With U.”Jennifer Hudson then performed the iconic “Purple Rain” before Maxwell (perhaps taking over for D’Angelo, who was supposed to perform) sang “Nothing Compares 2 U”.
Advertisement
“We’re done watching and waiting while this invention called whiteness uses and abuses us, burying black people out of sight and out of mind while extracting our culture, our dollars, our entertainment like oil, black gold, ghettoizing and demeaning our creations then stealing them; gentrifying our genius and trying us on like costumes before discarding our bodies”, he said onstage. “The thing is, just because we’re magic doesn’t mean we’re not real”. “We all need to take a stand against gun violence”, she said. “Use your voice and vote”.
Beyoncé didn’t walk away empty-handed from the awards ceremony, either: she took home awards for “Best Female R&B/Pop Artist”, and “Video of the Year”, “Coca-Cola Viewers’ Choice Award”, and the “Centric Award”, all for her song “Formation”. In fact, her mother Tina Knowles accepted some of her daughter’s awards on her behalf at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.
Advertisement
“I want to thank, first of all, her husband and her daughter”, Tina said onstage. The awards show, hosted by BLACK-ISH stars Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross, awarded the Humanitarian Award to Grey’s Anatomy star Jesse Williams and a Lifetime Achievement Award to Samuel L. Jackson. Politics and disses aside, it was a big night for Drake who earned three awards in the categories of best hip hop artist, best collaboration (with Rihanna) for “Work” and best group collaborating with Future. “Don’t get tricked like they got tricked in England”, Jackson added, referencing that country’s recent vote to leave the European Union.
