Taraji P. Henson hosted the BET Awards this year, and she brought the show a bunch of scathing political commentary.
Henson started her hosting duties with a parodied version to Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” before emphasizing that the annual show was “for us,” before making reference to Donald Trump’s “Black jobs” comment during the last presidential debate.
“We have a show full of all-stars...with Black jobs,” she said, “Whatever that means—but clearly we know there’s a difference. Thanks for the info, but we already knew it,” she said, critiquing Trump's implication that Black jobs are menial jobs.
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Henson would offer more commentary later, this time together with Vice President Kamala Harris, in a skit where the The Color Purple star Facetimed the VP with her concerns about the upcoming election. “Madame VP Harris, I’m worried about the election. Women’s reproductive rights are on the line, our Supreme Court is on the line, our basic freedoms are being tested,” Henson says in the bit, which played during a commercial break about a third of the way through the broadcast.
“You’re right Taraji,” Harris can be seen saying. “There is so much at stake in this moment. The majority of us believe in freedom and equality, but these extremists, as they say, they not like us,” Harris continued, referencing Lamar’s track.
“There’s a full-on attack on our fundamental freedoms, the freedom to vote, the freedom to love who you love, the freedom to be safe from gun violence, the freedom for a woman to make decisions about her own body, not having her government tell her what to do,” Harris also said. Henson then says that conservatives are “pushing the wrong P’s” as they try to “take away Pride, Plan B, and Planned Parenthood” while “protecting pistols.”
Henson wasn’t done still though, as she took another opportunity later in the show to implore viewers to vote. “I’m telling y'all, you better show up and show out with them ballots,” she said, “It’s not just about the presidential election you guys. It’s time for us to play chess not checkers. It’s about making decisions that will affect us as human beings: our careers, our next generations to come,” she said while introducing the show’s next performance.
“Did you know that it is now a crime to be homeless?” she said referencing the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold an Oregon law that allows people experiencing homelessness to be fined for sleeping outdoors with blankets, pillows, or cardboard boxes. She also brought further attention to the Heritage Foundation’s conservative policy proposals known as Project 2025—a blueprint for radical government changes that one lawmaker told The Daily Beast is a “playbook for authoritarianism.”
“Pay attention, it’s not a secret—look it up,” Henson said, “They are attacking our most vulnerable citizens. The Project 2025 plan is not a game. Look it up!”
“They are trying to bring the draft back. Who do you think they’re going to draft first? I’m not trying to scare us. I’m trying to inform us. We got three Supreme Court seats up you guys, we need those seats. Or we have no protection,” she continued.
“I’m talking to all the mad people that don’t wanna vote. You gon’ be mad about a lot of things if you don’t vote.”
