Kanye West made a surprise speech at the BET Awards on Sunday night in honour of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs who was receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Dressed in his now familiar uniform of a black mask and cap, West spoke about his admiration towards, and friendship with, Combs over the years.
“Back then, there was so many rules to hip-hop, and he broke all of them, and broke down all the doors, and understood contracts in a way a lot of us still don’t. Understood money in a way a lot of us still don’t. I go to him for advice to this day. He inspired so many of my choices,” said West.
“Any of us in this room if Puff ever need us, we need to jump and be there. This man has been through [and] survived a lot of stuff and broke down a lot of doors so we can be standing ... he broke down so many doors of classism, taste, swag. Puff, if I never told you I love you, you’re my brother.”
Diddy also made an impassioned speech at the event, saying, “I got this dream of Black people being free. I got this dream of us controlling our own destiny. I got this dream of us taking accountability and to stop killing each other. I got this dream of us being rich and wealthy and living on the same block. I have this dream of us unifying.”
The BET Awards is an annual award show that honours African Americans in the entertainment industry. Previous winners of the Lifetime Achievement Award include megastars Queen Latifah, Lionel Richie, Prince and Diana Ross.
Other winners on the night included The Weeknd, who won Best Male R&B/Pop Artist, Silk Sonic (Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak) who won Best Group, Megan Thee Stallion who won Best Female Hip Hop Artist and Kendrick Lamar who won Best Male Hip Hop Artist.
King Richard won Best Movie, while Zendaya won Best Actress for her work in Euphoria and Spider-Man: No Way Home. Naomi Osaka and Stephen Curry won Sportswoman and Sportsman of the Year Awards.
The Los Angeles award show saw a packed roster of performances from Combs, who gave a career-spanning medley, Lizzo, with her summer hit About Damn Time, Jack Harlow, who performed Poison and First Class, and Chance the Rapper with The Highs & The Lows. Fireboy DML, Giveon, Muni Long, Ella Mai and Chloe Bailey also performed.
