New Delhi, India

Usher was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the recently held BET Awards in Los Angeles but not everything went as planned on stage when the singer came to pick up his award. Usher’s acceptance speech was muted by the organisers without giving any reason. 

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After a massive outrage on social media, BET has now issued an apology for muting his speech while on the stage. He started off by saying he hadn’t prepared a speech but “likes to talk”. He then began thanking and expressing gratitude to fans and family when the audio went off and no one could hear anything for more than four minutes. Usher gave a speech of 13 minutes. 

Also read: Usher at BET Awards 2024: Childish Gambino, Keke Palmer and others pay tribute

Fans thought Usher said something controversial

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Rumours started circulating on social media on what he possibly spoke about, which perturbed the awards organisation. Some thought he mentioned Sean “Diddy” Combs amid his sexual and physical assault case. Some theorised he used profanity in his speech. Those in the audience, however, slammed all these assumptions and confirmed he said nothing controversial. 

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In their statement to Billboard, BET Awards said, “Due to an audio malfunction during the LIVE telecast, portions of his speech were inadvertently muted. Celebrating global icon Usher on our stage with a star-studded tribute and having him accept his award with a heartfelt speech was an honour… We extend our sincere apologies to Usher as we couldn’t be more grateful for his participation in Culture’s Biggest Night.”

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As the BET Awards honoured their winners, those who missed out can watch the rebroadcast today. Check out the list of winners here. 

In addition to the Lifetime Achievement Award, Usher picked up Best Male R&B/ Pop Artist while SZA picked up Best Female R&B/ Pop Artist.