BET Awards: Usher Gives Emotional Speech On Family & Forgiveness While Receiving Lifetime Achievement Award

Usher reflected on the value of family and the importance of forgiveness during an emotional speech at the BET Awards on Sunday night. Toward the end of the ceremony, he accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award on stage from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.

“Getting here has definitely not been easy, but it has been worth it,” Usher said. “I didn’t write anything because I wanted this moment to be exactly what it was: present. In this moment, how I am feeling, and the appreciation that I have for each and every person that have anything to do with this moment tonight, as well as the 30-plus-year career that I’m celebrating. This Lifetime Achievement Award, I don’t know, man. Is it too early for me to receive it? Because I’m still running and gunning and I still love it like I did when I was 8 years old.” From there, he reflected on his journey to finding an identity.

“I was trying to make sense of this name that a man gave me but didn’t stick around because he didn’t love me,” Usher continued. “Or at least that was my perception of it because I had to live long enough in order to understand that you have to have a forgiving heart in order to understand the true pitfalls and hardships of a Black man in America. My father was a product of that. He made a lot of decisions. He made a lot of choices, and one that probably hurt and helped me at the same time was to stay away. That’s part of the reason why I say this is the year of the father, where all the fathers have got to stand up for their sons and daughters and be the man that they need to be for them.”

Elsewhere during the speech, Usher dealt with his microphone cutting out at several points. In addition to the speech, Childish Gambino gave a tribute performance of “U Don’t Have To Call” for the singer. Be on the lookout for further updates on Usher and the BET Awards on HotNewHipHop.