NEW YORK (AP) — The 2024 BET Awards are fast approaching. Last year's show celebrated 50 years of hip-hop with tributes to the genre’s earliest voices, late legends and new talent during a show packed with spectacular performances that consistently felt like a party. This year is stacking up to be just as exciting with award-winning performers — Lauryn Hill, Childish Gambino, Megan Thee Stallion and Will Smith, anyone? — and presenters.
Oscar-nominated actor Taraji P. Henson will host the BET Awards for a third time.
“If we didn’t have a BET, how would the little ones know all this greatness exists? How will we be able to inspire each other if we didn’t see each other,” Henson told The Associated Press. "And so this is a safe space for us where we get to lift each other up — where sometimes in this industry, we don’t get to see ourselves lifted and celebrated in this way.”
Here's everything you need to know before the June 30 show.
The BET Awards will air live on June 30 at 8 p.m. Eastern on BET from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. It will be simulcast on MTV, Comedy Central, MTV2, TVLand, Nickelodeon, Pop and Logo.
Drake leads the nominations with seven, including an album of the year nod for his eighth studio album, “For All the Dogs.” One of the awards he’s up for is the music video for “First Person Shooter,” his collaboration with J. Cole that may have been the catalyst for his recent beef with rapper Kendrick Lamar.
Nicki Minaj follows with six, including for album of the year for her highly anticipated “Pink Friday 2” release. Two of her nominations were for her song with Ice Spice, “Barbie World,” part of the blockbuster “Barbie” soundtrack.
J. Cole, Sexyy Red, SZA and best new artist Grammy winner Victoria Monét tie with five nods; 21 Savage, Beyoncé, Doja Cat, Megan Thee Stallion, Tyla and Usher boast four each.
A few months after wowing audiences while headlining the 2024 Super Bowl halftime show, Usher will also receive the lifetime achievement BET award.
The film nominees this year are: “American Fiction”; “Bob Marley: One Love”; “Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé”; “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”; “The Book of Clarence”; “The Color Purple”; “The Equalizer 3” and “The Little Mermaid.”
Simone Biles, Naomi Osaka, Steph Curry, LeBron James and Patrick Mahomes are among the sports stars competing for awards.
Performers will include Hill and her son YG Marley, Ice Spice, Tyla, Childish Gambino, Chlöe, Coco Jones, Keke Palmer, Marsha Ambrosius and Summer Walker.
Megan Thee Stallion will serve as the show's opening act.
Smith is slated to perform a new song. The Grammy and Oscar winner is still emerging from the infamous Oscars slap two years ago, with the successful launch of “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” helping boost his comeback.
“Anything Will sings, I’m just going to be there to enjoy it because we know he got some hits," Henson said. “But you know, it is summertime. I just thought I’d throw it out there,” she added, referencing the 1991 Grammy-award winning “Summertime” by DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince.
"I’m excited to hear his new music.”
Country musician Tanner Adell will also perform on the BET Amplified stage.
Previously announced acts also include GloRilla, Latto, Muni Long, Sexyy Red, Shaboozey, and Monét.
Presenters will include Andra Day, Colman Domingo, DC Young Fly, Devale Ellis, Jay Ellis, Jessica Betts, Ms. Pat, Niecy Nash-Betts, Saucy Santana and more, it was announced Friday.
AP Entertainment Writer Jonathan Landrum Jr. contributed to this report.
For more coverage of this year’s BET Awards, visit https://apnews.com/hub/bet-awards
FILE - Donald Glover, who goes by the stage name Childish Gambino, performs at the Governors Ball Music Festival in New York on June 3, 2017. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)
Taraji P. Henson presents the award for best performance by an actor in a leading role in a play during the 77th Tony Awards on Sunday, June 16, 2024, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
SEATTLE (AP) — Byron Buxton extended Minnesota’s home run streak to 18 straight games with a three-run shot in the sixth inning, Pablo López allowed one run over six innings, and the Twins beat the Seattle Mariners 5-1 on Saturday night.
Minnesota improved to 5-3 on its current nine-game road trip and got the 5,000th win in franchise history since the Twins moved from Washington prior to the 1961 season.
Buxton homered for the second time in three games, this time breaking the game open with a shot off Seattle reliever Trent Thornton with two outs in the sixth inning. Thornton was on the verge of escaping trouble after the first two batters of the inning reached, but he left a 2-2 fastball in the middle of the plate and Buxton didn’t miss for his eighth homer of the season.
“He's finding ways to just have good at-bats, put himself in good counts. But the swing, I've said a couple of times before, looks very synched up. It looks very tight and it's very impactful. He's finding the barrel and the ball just really takes off when he's putting good swings on the ball,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said.
Minnesota’s 18-game streak of long balls is tied for the franchise record set last season between April 18 and May 6, 2023. It’s the second-longest streak in the majors this season behind Baltimore’s 22-game stretch earlier this month, and the Twins have hit 29 homers during the span.
Buxton also had a two-out RBI double in the fourth inning off Seattle starter Bryce Miller that barely eluded the diving attempt of Luke Raley in left field. The four RBIs were a season high for Buxton and the most since July 21, 2023, against the White Sox.
Buxton is hitting .478 with four homers and four doubles on the current road trip.
“Once you figure out what you don’t have to search for the whole time going into the cage, not spending 40 minutes on that one little piece you’re trying to figure out it kind of simplifies the game a little bit more," Buxton said. "When I say, ‘see ball, hit ball,’ it’s more just about simplifying it to just go out there and have a quality at-bat.”
Coming off a 14-strikeout performance in his last start, López (8-6) scattered four hits and struck out nine. He’s allowed six hits and one earned run in his last 14 innings, and retired 12 of the final 13 batters he faced.
Seattle’s only run off López came via Mitch Haniger’s solo homer in the third inning. It was Haniger’s seventh homer of the season but his first since May 14.
Miller (6-7) was lifted after five innings and only allowing two runs. But he had to work to get through those five innings throwing 87 pitches and with the heart of the Twins order coming up in the sixth.
Miller allowed five hits and struck out six.
“He did have to throw a lot of offspeed pitches tonight, probably the most he's thrown all year, but he was able to work through it,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said. “It wasn't easy. ... He had to grind through it.”
UP NEXT
Twins: RHP Joe Ryan (5-5, 3.31) has pitched at least six innings in his last four starts. He allowed four runs over six innings in his last outing against Arizona.
Mariners: RHP Luis Castillo (6-9, 3.79) will throw on normal rest rather than giving him two extra days off and having him start Tuesday’s series opener against Baltimore. Castillo has lost three of his last four starts.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Minnesota Twins' Carlos Santana (30) is called safe at second for a double in front of the tag from Seattle Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford, right, during the fourth inning of a baseball game Saturday, June 29, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Pablo López throws against the Seattle Mariners during the second inning of a baseball game Saturday, June 29, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Pablo López points after Seattle Mariners' Ty France grounded into a double play during the second inning of a baseball game Saturday, June 29, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Seattle Mariners' Mitch Haniger braces for a bag of seeds thrown at him by a teammate as he holds a trident to celebrate hitting a solo home run against the Minnesota Twins during the third inning of a baseball game Saturday, June 29, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Bryce Miller walks to the dugout after facing the Minnesota Twins during the fourth inning of a baseball game Saturday, June 29, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Minnesota Twins' Byron Buxton flips his bat after hitting a three-run home run against the Seattle Mariners during the sixth inning of a baseball game Saturday, June 29, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Minnesota Twins' Byron Buxton hits a three-run home run to score Carlos Correa and Jose Miranda against the Seattle Mariners during the sixth inning of a baseball game Saturday, June 29, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Minnesota Twins' Byron Buxton (25) greets teammates Jose Miranda, left, and Carlos Correa, center, who scored on his three-run home run against the Seattle Mariners during the sixth inning of a baseball game Saturday, June 29, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
