This year’s BET Awards aired live last night from Los Angeles’ Peacock Theatre. SZA, Victoria Monét, and Tyla won big awards, but nobody watches the BET Awards for the actual awards. The performances are the main draw, and this year had some big, elaborate ones. The most attention-grabbing of them came from Will Smith, currently on the comeback trail after the box office success of the new Bad Boys movie. Smith made what I believe was his first awards-show performance since the time he slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars, and he debuted a new song called “You Can Make It.” It’s a motivational gospel-rap number that features Chandler Moore, Kirk Franklin, and Sunday Service Choir, and Smith performed it from what appeared to be the center of a smoking crater.

Will Smith’s fellow movie star Taraji P. Henson hosted the show for the third time. Instead of an opening monologue, she started things off with a parody of Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” dressing like Kendrick at his Pop Out concert. Kendrick Lamar and Drake were not at the show. (Kendrick won Best Male Hip-Hop Artist, and Drake won nothing.) But “Not Like Us” producer Mustard was in the front row, and he looked happy.

The centerpiece of the evening was a tribute to Usher, who won a lifetime achievement award as well as the Best Male R&B/Pop Artist trophy (for the fifth time). Usher watched from the front row as a succession of stars covered his hits. Childish Gambino started it off with “U Don’t Have To Call,” but all the other performers were women: Keke Palmer with “You Make Me Wanna…,” Summer Walker with her Usher collab “Good Good,” Coco Jones with “There Goes My Baby,” Marsha Ambrosius with “Superstar,” Chlöe Bailey with “Good Kisser,” Tinashe with “Nice & Slow,” Teyana Taylor and Victoria Monét rolling around the stage together in a steamy version of “Bad Girl,” and Latto doing her version of the Ludacris verse from “Yeah!” (Latto and Victorian Monét also gave their own performances.)

Country-pop sensation Shaboozey performed his giant crossover hit “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” with a whole lot of backup dancers in a set made up to look like a honky tonk. The track interpolates J-Kwon’s 2004 hit “Tipsy,” and at the climactic moment, J-Kwon came up from an elevator behind the bar to rap that song’s first verse.

Megan Thee Stallion opened the show, emerging from a giant egg like the one on the cover of her new album Megan and doing a medley of three songs.

Ice Spice performed at a fake gas station, doing her recent singles “Think U The Shit (Fart)” and “Phat Butt,” the latter of which she’d never performed live before.

Ms. Lauryn Hill did her songs “The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill” and “Lost Ones. Then, she and her son YG Marley teamed up on his reggae hit “Praise Jah In The Moonlight.”

The South African star Tyla won the awards for Best New Artist and Best International Act, and she teamed up with Gunna and dancehall star Skillibeng to give an impressively choreographed performance of “Jump.”

Sexyy Redd did a presidential-themed performance, starting with a bit of her Drake collab “U My Everything” without Drake before going into her hit “Get It Sexyy.”

GloRilla parachuted in from the ceiling to perform “Yeah Glo!”

In a pre-taped sketch, Kamala Harris said, “These extremists? They not like us.”

Vice President Kamala Harris for the #BETAwards: "The majority of us believe in freedom and equality, but these extremists, as they say, they not like us." pic.twitter.com/wE0hDB3XId

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) July 1, 2024

Normani was scheduled to perform, but she was injured in a “really bad accident” during rehearsals and had to pull out.

Sadly @normani is no longer performing at #BETAwards due to injury. Sending her love. pic.twitter.com/bKCUSv1tkU

— Gerrick Kennedy (@GerrickKennedy) June 30, 2024

Album Of The Year went to Killer Mike and the award was presented by Donald Glover, who has one BET Award.

https://twitter.com/cjzero/status/1807586373156684277

And finally, producers made the controversial decision to include O.J. Simpson in the In Memoriam segment.

https://twitter.com/JenniferMascia/status/1807618293663944825