BET Celebrates 2nd Annual Black +Iconic Weekend

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Martin Luther King Jr. weekend was overflowing with Black excellence amid a celebration of the Black AND LGBTQ+ community.

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BET recently extended its commitment to uplifting the intersectionality of the Black and LGBTQ+ community via its Black + Iconic weekend centered around celebrating individual impacts and collective positive influence.

A slew of events highlighted four honorees for their unique talents, bravery, aptitude, and culture-shifting eminence.

This year’s honorees varied from a storied author and activist to the creator of a hit series who draws inspiration from a choreographer’s legacy.

BET Black + Iconic Honored Miss Major, Rashad Burgess, Dr. David Johns & Jordan E. Cooper

Miss Major, a legendary author and transgender rights activist, was given her flowers with the Pioneer of the Year Award, recognizing her tireless efforts to champion the cause of LGBTQ+ rights from the tumultuous days of the past to the present.

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Rashad Burgess, Vice President of Advancing Health and Black Equity, Gilead Sciences, was rightfully bestowed the Executive Realness Award, acknowledging his relentless support of the LGBTQ+ community by advancing equality for LGBTQ+ people in workplaces.

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Dr. David Johns was honored for his continued crusade to free all Black people via the National Black Justice coalition. He received the Active Advocate Award, highlighting his remarkable contributions as a community leader to promote equality and quality of life for LGBTQ+ people.

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Jordan E. Cooper, who created and executive produces BET+’s The Ms. Pat Show accepted the Prime Creator Award during BET’s Black and Iconic weekend. The dynamo who’s still in his 20s, was celebrated for his variety of talents that he says are inspired by the legacy of dancer/choreographer Willi Ninja of Paris Is Burning fame.

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BET Black + Iconic Kicked Off With A Welcome Mixer

On Friday, BET things kicked off with the BET Black + Iconic Soiree Welcome Mixer presented by Gilead Sciences. Taking place at NOBU Hotel Atlanta, the extravagant affair featured a rousing speech from Tiyale Hayes.

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BET’s Executive Vice President of Insights and Multiplatform Analytics told a crowd that enjoyed a champagne toast, hors d’oeuvres, and open bar, that BET remains dedicated to its continued commitment to creating a platform and “home” for the Black LGBTQ+ community.

According to Hayes, he and EVP, Chief Marketing Officer, BET Networks, Kim Paige worked tirelessly to “future-proof BET” after its 40th anniversary.

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“We created a brand purpose and that brand purpose was centered around four pillars; to celebrate Black love, Black joy, Black power and Black pride. We wrote those words down and cemented that as why BET exists,” said Hayes. “This weekend is a wonderful example of us wanting to celebrate those pieces for part of the community who many times aren’t seen.”

He also echoed that thought to BOSSIP’s Managing Editor Dani Canada.

“I worked on many billion-dollar brands in my career. And what’s interesting about working in a brand that’s based in culture is that 42 million people in the US, hundreds of millions globally, feel like this brand is a part of them because of the letter B,” said Hayes. “And it wasn’t until I started working at BET, I said, “Oh.” When I worked on Old Spice, no one thought that Old Spice is theirs. It was a brand I use, or when I worked on Listerine it was like, this is the brand I use, but at BET, people are like, “Oh y’all…” Their friends will be like, “You need to,” or, “Y’all should stop, y’all should start,” and you’re like, “Oh.”

He continued,

“So what we did as a brand historically is we didn’t always shine a light on what we were doing internally. Given some of the things that we talked about with the pushback against culture in society, we are very thoughtful that we need to stand up and create a space that people can drop in, have conversation about. People can come in and say, “Oh, I see you, you see me,” and really lean into the fullness of what that B means.”

“So in many ways, it kind of went from maybe a small B to a capital B. And because there were many stories about BET that we didn’t like this, we didn’t do that, and the reality was when we step back and you run the numbers, with over 20 characters in our original programming in the community, there’s no other platform that can stand that up.”

“No one can stand up and say, “I’ve got 20 characters that represent this,” he added. “And it is important that it’s not actors, it’s characters. With actors, they have their own private life, but characters are the representation that people see out in the world. And so we are very intentional when we think about casting, when we think about where we are, we are very thoughtful about, hey, here are characters that we want to represent the community. So that everyone who’s Black feels like I see myself here at the network.”

Attendees at the mixer included Serayah, Kayla Walker, Dr. David Johns, Rashad Burgess, and Shannon Balenciaga.

2nd Annual BET Black + Iconic Welcome Mixer

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The event was followed up Saturday at the opulent BET Black + Iconic Soireé at Flourish, celebs including Miss Lawrence, Towanad Braxton, Brittany Packyetti and Dominque Morgan flocked to the red carpet and told BOSSIP what being Black and Iconic means to them.

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The evening was hosted by award-winning actor, dancer, and choreographer Nicco Annan who along with BET lifted up the four influential honorees who excel across various sectors who identify as LGBTQ+.