This week rocker Lenny Kravitz told Esquire Magazine that he has never been invited to the BET Awards and said Black publications don't celebrate his success [click
here if you missed that].
Former BET program director Stephen Hill sets the record straight...
28 comments:
So he lives a rock and roll life his entire career, but right before he turns 60 he's trying to flip the narrative and say Black shows don't celebrate him? Smh He and I are both mixed race and so im not knocking him, but I don't ever recall him in the 80s, 90s, or early 2000s being bothered with Black shows or any of that. Had he said this in his 20s, 30s, or 40s, I may have listened, but he's 59. Black folks have never rejected him, it's just his music was more rock like. Mixed folks do go through things but Lenny looks Black er than most Black folks and so I'm not buying this one. I still like him though. I guess the rock music scene had dried up. I'd like to see him act more.
I'm not going to down a black man feeling some kind of way about not getting black validation. I respect this more than those who get mad over the Grammys or Oscars so white. BET awards are trash too but I get the sentiment.
I love Lenny but did you ever have a BLACK love interest darker than a paper bag in ANY of your music videos? Are we allowed to question THAT since you are questioning BET? Just curious...
Stephen Hill anutha Diddy! Except no womens were involved… only Snausages!
7:23, I feel ya. I wasn't downing him at all but he is a rock star loved world wide by all people. I just think he's at that stage that I liken to folks who worked up North 40 years and then yearn to come back home at the end. He could've come home to visit the entire time, but I am glad he did come home. As for the one commenting on paper bag tests that is mean. He's a mixed race man and he married a mixed race woman. You don't have to marry someone darker to be Black. That's not cool to say.
Please, he was on the cover of Essence, Ebony, and one of those high-end mags from 20 years ago. I believe it was Savoy. Anyway, he created his career and for nearly 40 years appears to be satisfied. I think he's just making a stink bcuz he's not popping like he was 15-20 years ago and most of his Black contemporaries are either dead or back to punching a time clock. Maybe if he took a page from Thundercat and collaborate with some old school soul artists, he'll get the Black audience he wants.
8:58, good point. I never thought about it like that. I love him either way like I stated earlier. I prefer his acting because he has an interesting and very sexy look minus the dreads. Never been a fan of the locs. A musical collab is a brilliant idea!
Was Run D.M.C ever on B.E.T? They did a rock/rap with Aerosmith.
People like Lenny have the kind of white publicists that don’t have the black community on their radar. There is no outreach and the black press have an almost impossible task in trying to interview him. A-list black celebrities have to demand that their minions stay in touch with the community. It's not going to happen otherwise.
Why didn't he ask for a ticket?
BET Awards Needed A 'ROCK' Category.
His music had less exposure to Black, 'urban' radio audiences than several non-black acts. I blame programming.
To: 7:30 PM
LMAO @ Snausages. You told no lies. Choke no joke on youtube has gone in on Stephen repeatedly about his casting couch activities at BET.
Iont care if he’s Black, mixed, or white. He’s another one who lives in a white world, rockin with white folks, but wants Black validation. Not from me.
Rock and Roll is black music! It was created by us and copied/stolen by whites just like every other creative work we put out. The comments on here are weird, Lenny Kravitz has always identified as black and never disrespected our culture. He has spoken plenty of times about how his black mother raised him to be culturally aware.
He specifically mentioned the BET Awards not 106 and Park. The sad thing about this is a lot of us don't know our own history and think we should only embrace rap and r&b. It goes hand in hand with the bullying some blacks get for speaking a certain way or getting good grades in school but that's a story for another day.
To the people complaining that he only dates white women so he should have been excluded from black awards that literally makes no sense because most of your favorite rappers, athletes, actors and singers date white women as well. As soon as they get money and fame their preference changes but that's ok to most you because they're still black enough if you like the songs and movies they put out.
He is what his daddy was.
An Edomite.
Straight from the house of Esau.
Culturally aware???? That means live in a white world but be happy with your nappy hair. Chil', please.
We don't need to know about Sister Rosetta Tharpe to know when we're being played.
@7:30 🤣🤣🤣
7:30, You ignorant down trodden dog. You don't get to define him, God made him, not your demonic low vibrational hell bound behind. Jesus came through a WOMAN because a woman determines your bloodline. However, you are still both of your parents. Even in America what made you black was your mother. During slavery if mom was black you were automatically a slave but if you had a white mom and black dad you were automatically free because the bloodline came from mom. This is why YT folks only allow mixed folks with a non black mothers in the office of president but you are too stupid to catch it. Obama and Kamala would've bever been in office if they came from a Black vagina you dumb mofo.
I love me some Lenny! I’ve gone to his concerts and his audience is not blk at all. I think his latest music is moving closer to a Prince mode so he probably questions himself why his blended “rock” genre couldn’t become closer to exposure and acceptance from blk folks.
It maybe would be nice if he could be honored by BET or NAACP awards bc he is a true blk entertainer. I’m not sure how that should work. Definitely doesn’t fit into blk music categories though, so maybe bet&naacp should’ve thought of an outlier categories to recognize. Include blks in Alternative Rock/R&B, Indie Rock, Folk - places where his competitors would be like Seal-types? Tracy Chapman-types? Black Puma-types? Toro y Moi-types. I listen to so much out there but bet&naacp have kept it mainstream blk and there’s just so much more.
And I’m seeing Living Colour in concert this Spring! Never recognized but should be. Bet needs to check themselves
And this is mixed race man whose women were mixed too. Makes sense that he wants color like himself.
Makes sense that he wants watered-down color like himself.
Michael Harriot at The Grio has written an excellent piece on Lenny's complaints. Among other good points, Harriot wrote ...
"Having worked in Black media for most of my career, I can assure you that there is not a single Black-centric outlet that would reject Kravitz if he wanted to appear at one of these celebrations. Most Black publications would kill for an exclusive interview with someone like Kravitz. Most of the platforms he references have published stories on the Black origins of rock and roll. I know because I have written some of them.
https://thegrio.com/2023/12/01/why-did-black-media-cancel
The comments NEVER let me down and ALWAYS let me down at the same damn time.
That said, I align with 7:10a.
Many Black people prefer to be fed buck-dancing garbage, that's why.
What has he done for us lately(Janet Jackson song) to get a n award?
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