Jamie Foxx got emotional while accepting the Ultimate Icon Award at the 2025 BET Awards on Monday night.
The actor-comedian-singer struggled to hold back tears during his speech as he thanked God for giving him a “second chance” following his health emergency in April 2023. He revealed in his Netflix special, Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was…, that he had suffered a brain bleed that led to a stroke.
“I cannot even begin to express the love that I feel from everybody out there,” Foxx began after accepting the award. “I gotta be honest, when I saw the In Memoriam, I was like, man, it could have been me. I don’t know why I went through what I went through, but I know my second chance, I’m not gonna turn down.”
“I have so much love to give. I told him [God], I said, man, just give me one more crack at this,” Foxx continued as his eyes filled with tears. “I said, for whatever reason you put this on me, I promise I’m gonna do right. And I’m gonna do right in front of y’all ’cause I know a lot of times when we get on, we forget about where we come from. When I did my special, it was in front of Black people. Black people were the ones that said, man, we got you. Not to say that white people can’t pray either. I know that sounds weird, but y’all know what I’m saying. It’s like you guys held me down, and I don’t want to make this whole speech about that, but you can’t go through something like that and not testify.”
The Oscar-winning actor also showed his appreciation for his daughters, Corinne and Anelise, for helping him through his tough recovery and making “sure I was here.”
Prior to his Netflix special, Foxx shared few details about an undisclosed medical complication in April 2023 that left him hospitalized. He then disappeared from the spotlight for six months to focus on recovery.
Elsewhere during his speech, Foxx also thanked BET “for this wonderful award.” He added, “I say this all the time, thank you to Black people and the Black award, because this is what really counts. A lot of people think like the Oscars is the biggest thing, and we got to quit thinking like that. And that’s coming from a person who won an Oscar, I was nominated twice, but the Icon Award is the most important award because it comes from us.”
The 25th BET Awards, hosted by Kevin Hart, were held at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles Monday night. Check out the full winners list and the night’s red carpet arrivals here.