After taping earlier this year, BET finally aired its annual BET Honors gala last night (Feb. 23), honoring members of the Afircan-American communiry who have made positive strides in the world. Among honorees Usher, Phylicia Rashad, Mircrosoft chairman John Thompson and National Museum of African Art director Johnetta B. Cole, Kanye West was celebrated as this year's Visonary Award winner, and his lengthy speech touched on everything from racism to family to success in the music industry.
After an introduction from Damon Dash and a video tribute from Jay Z, Kendrick Lamar, Common and more, West expressed one rarely seen emotion: humility. "Well seeing that, I think for maybe one of the first times in my life I understand how it is to feel humbled," he said to laughter from the audience.
After thanking Stephen Hill, West detailed his relationship with the white Kim Kardashian and spelled out a story she told him of racism and her father, Robert Kardashian. "You know, at the barber shop and everything, I used to hear 'When an enetertainer get on, you know he get himself a white girl, but I want to say my wife has dated broke black dudes. So, it's not about the money," West joked before getting serious.
"It takes me back to a story that she told me where her father, Robert Kardashian, walked out and on the side of his Bentley, they wrote 'N*gger Lover,' because Robert Kardashian was the genius who put together the defense team that got O.J. [Simpson] off. She had never seen her father curse, get mad, he was the most laidback person. She sat there crying, saying, 'Dad, why you going so crazy?' And he said to her, 'One day, you may have a black child. A beautiful, black child. And it's gonna be hard. You're gonna see how hard it is," West said before further discussing racism and saying that despite riches, black celebrities are not always "free" from the slavery of coolness of money.
West's touching, inspirational speech is a moment to watch. Check out out below, via Pitchfork:
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