In shocking news, it seems as though BET has suspended the Hip Hop Awards and Soul Train Awards for television indefinitely. But fret not, for BET CEO Scott Mills reveals the reason, and it may have to do something with revamping the formats to a more modern standard. In a recent interview with Billboard, Mills spoke about the rumors and palpable chatter around the nature of award shows and their existence.
He says, “…it’s less about them being no longer and more about our team having to reimagine them for this changing media landscape that we find ourselves in. I think what we’re going to see are more people taking franchises and saying, ‘This might have started on linear television, but now I’m going to move it to another space. Do I move it to streaming? Or do I move it to another platform?’
So for BET linear, we have suspended the Soul Train and Hip-Hop award shows. But we have a team that’s actively thinking about where those award shows might best live as the media climate continues to evolve. They aren’t gone. And we also still have the NAACP Image Awards and the Stellar Awards.”
For many, this is a heartbreak still, for the awards are really anchored in the experience of television and coming together of community. With digital landscapes more distant and fragmented than ever before, what would this move do to the way culture is received and shared within the hip hop community? Stay tuned to find out!
