Tyler Perry threw some subtle shade towards Hollywood studios at the 2025 BET Awards.
Before Ledisi took the stage to perform “BLKWMN,” the Sistas creator took time to share a short story about himself and his son walking along the beach, when his child said to him, “I’m walking in your footsteps,” to which he responded, “I said, ‘No, let’s walk together.’ We walked to the end of the beach and then he looked back and he saw all the footprints that he had left.”
“I say that to you tonight because I wanna talk to you about this thing that is happening in this country and I want you to pay attention to it. Don’t miss this,” Perry said. “They are removing our books from libraries, they are removing our stories and our history, they are removing our names from government buildings. It’s as if someone wants to erase our footprints.”
The mogul added, “But the truth of the matter, it’s impossible to erase our footprints because we left them on water. What I mean by that is, we were snatched from our homeland, brought across the ocean and left footprints all the way to America.”
Perry asserted that “this is not the time to be silent, this is not the time to give up — this is the time to dig in and keep leaving footprints everywhere you go.” The Madea’s Family Reunion writer then called out studios in Los Angeles.
“I can tell you this, I have made more Black billionaires, hear me when I say this, than any studio in this city combined,” he said. “Because I’m making footprints. So I don’t care if you’re struggling, if you’re trying to make it, you’re trying to build a business, if you have a dream, keep making footprints. Don’t let anybody stop you, you can do it.”
Earlier in his speech, Perry also thanked Black women for supporting his work over the years. “I think about my incredible audience who’s a lot of men, a lot of women, but hear me when I tell you this, Black women have held me down and I appreciate you like you would not believe,” he added.
Heading into Monday night, Kendrick Lamar topped the nomination list with 10 nods, with Doechii, Future, GloRilla, Future and Drake following close behind with six noms each. The “Yeah Glo!” rapper, too, served as one of the night’s performers alongside Lil Wayne, Teyana Taylor, Playboi Carti and Leon Thomas.
Kevin Hart hosted the 2025 BET Awards at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. On Sunday, a BET spokesperson confirmed that the ceremony would go ahead as planned despite the ongoing protests against unlawful immigration raids in L.A.