The 2019 BET Awards Was The Shows Lowest Rate Ever
The 19th BET Awards was aired on national television on June 23rd, 2019 at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California for the whole world to see. This was the show’s last ceremony of the 2010s highlighting different performances, nominees, and tributes celebrating many talents within the black community. But also, 2019 was the year that the BET awards came out with the LOWEST ratings ever! Is this a nice way to end the 2010’s BET?
According to new statistics, this past Sunday, the awards show drew it’s lowest ratings ever dating back to 2006 with only 2 million viewers tuned in this year. As we can see, the BET Awards from the past is what really shook the tables for many viewers and fans. From Monique’s iconic tribute to Beyonce’s ‘Crazy in Love’ back in 2004, Destiny’s Child’s ‘Cater 2 U’ Lap Dance performance in 2005, Jesse Williams’s powerful speech while receiving the Humanitarian Award in 2016, and to all of Beyonce’s captivating performances as well as her walking on water with Kendrick Lamar back in 2016. These were only a few of the many biggest moments in BET Awards history. But for the 2019 BET Awards, a lot of people decided to “ tune out” for this year’s awards show. Will we ever figure out the real cause of this huge drop in the show’s ratings?
While the ratings of the BET Awards are announced and they appear much lower than the previous years, Nicki Minaj has something to say about the show’s poor ratings. In her response, she has stated, “ When u go out ur way to b spiteful & hurt artists who have always supported ur show… when you fire great ppl who have put their heart & soul into the show… when you’d rather be a messy reality show than a prestigious award show… when ur still being dragged by that lace,” she tweeted. This response was based on a recent spill she had with BET when they shaded the Queen rapper while congratulating Cardi B which put them against each other. The caption was shots being fired directly at Nicki Minaj “getting dragged by her lace front.” BET’s response in congratulating Cardi B on her win was overall very disrespectful to Nicki Minaj and very unprofessional on BET’s part. And as a result, Nicki Minaj then went on to pull her and Young Money’s support from the show and canceling any commitments involved with BET.
Now also, the BET awards low ratings just may have something to do with fans finding out who’s all performing and being presented there as well. Y’all remember back in the day where we would find out if our favorite celebrity would be performing like Beyonce, she hardly comes to the BET Awards right? And we would stay up all night just to see them kill the stage, like we kind of already still do. A lot of fans who cannot make it to the show physically would want to watch the preview of the awards show to get a sneak peek of who’s all coming. If their favorite celeb was a no show then why bother? And this could be the new wave now where people are just actually finding out who’s all coming even with all of the buzz in the air involving BET, the artists, etc. Not saying that the BET Awards isn’t a great show, because it is, but more so just a nice little theory to throw out there.
BET has also claimed that the statistics were too inaccurate and according to their released ratings via Nielsen, they claimed the No.1 spot for the fifth consecutive year drawing in 12.7 viewers to watch their awards show on many platforms. So, who’s really telling the truth? And even if the whole Nicki Minaj vs BET diss has anything to do with the show’s ratings, will BET be able to pull it back together for the 2020s and maybe receive possible forgiveness from the queen rapper and her team? Hopefully, BET has something up their sleeve to start out the 2020s on a great start because we would love to see more memorable moments from the BET Awards.
