Launched by Tyler Perry with a prolonged speech, Ledisi gave among the finest performances of the evening on the 2025 BET Awards, gorgeous the gang in a crimson robe as she sang “BLCKWMN” the second single from her bazaar album The Crown, as the Perry-directed music video performed behind her.
The director began his speech by telling a narrative about his then 3-year-old son following his footsteps on the seashore and segued right into a commentary on the Trump administration’s assault on the Division of Training. “They’re eradicating our books from libraries, they’re eradicating our tales and our historical past, they’re eradicating our names from authorities buildings,” he started. “It’s as if somebody needs to erase our footprints as a result of what we have to perceive is that if our youngsters don’t know our historical past, they gained’t know our energy. However the reality of the matter is, it’s inconceivable to erase our footprints as a result of we left them on water.”
He continued, “What I imply by that’s we’ve been snatched from our homeland, introduced throughout the ocean, and left footprints all the way in which to America. Once they tried to silence a king named King to maintain his voice down, it nonetheless echoes by generations to generations to generations since you can’t erase our footprints. They actually took the jewels out of the crowns in our crowns in Africa, put them in their very own crowns, of their museums, making an attempt to erase our historical past.”
Lastly, he advised the gang that he wished to be there personally to introduce Ledisi as a result of he beloved her track a lot. “I wished to be right here at this time to introduce this subsequent track as a result of once I heard it, it’s an homage to to each black lady and each sturdy black lady, each black lady who’s weak, each black lady who’s weak, each black lady who’s highly effective — this track spoke to me.”
You’ll be able to watch Ledisi’s efficiency beneath.