The BET Hip-Hop Awards and Soul Train Awards have been put on pause, as the awards shows have been suspended indefinitely. Speaking to Billboard, BET President Scott Mills explained the decision was made as part of the change in leadership and the media landscape.
“I would say that 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,” Mills says. “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?"”
He adds that the shows “aren’t gone” and notes the team is “actively thinking about where those award shows might best live as the media climate continues to evolve.”
The NAACP Image Awards and the Stellar Awards, Mills continued, currently remain active.
The Soul Train Awards launched in 1987 while the BET Hip-Hop Awards debuted in 2006. The shows were respectively known for their celebration of R&B and soul artists, and the cyphers.
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