What Usher actually said during his heavily censored speech at the BET Awards

Usher was honored with the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2024 BET Awards on Sunday (June 30).

After accepting the award, the eight-time Grammy winner gave a nearly 15-minute speech that was ultimately heavily censored.

The network has since apologized to the singer and claimed that an “audio malfunction” caused part of his speech to be “inadvertently muted,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.

However, a video recorded by a viewer at the awards ceremony and later uploaded to TikTok shows that certain moments of Usher’s speech were censored due to his use of vulgar language.

Here is what he actually said:

“It definitely wasn’t easy getting here, but it was worth it,” Usher began. “I want to thank a lot of people, but before I get into it, I want to warn you that I love to talk and I have a gift for words. What I will say is that I don’t need to write anything because I wanted this moment to be exactly what it was: present. This moment is about how I feel and how grateful I am for every single person who had anything to do with this moment tonight, as well as the 30-plus year career that I’m celebrating.”

Usher thanked the members of his team who supported him, saying: “They say success has millions of fathers. Well, I’ll start with these guys here. This is the village, these are the men who motivated me, who spoke to me, who were always reliable, no matter how crappy it might have been.”

“I’m sorry for swearing, but that’s how I really feel,” he said. “Because at some point things got really tight and the motherfuckers stopped messing with me. I understand, I understand, sometimes you have to go through a lot to get something.”

“I’m telling you, they’re solid,” Usher said, pointing to his team again. “And this isn’t about one damn hit. They’re solid and they’ll always have my back and I’ll always have their back.”

He continued to talk about his success, telling the crowd that no matter what happens, “you have to get your goals out there.”

“I am proud to say that I am an illegitimate son of Usher,” he said, referring to his father, Usher Raymond III, who abandoned him and his mother when he was a baby.

“But I made something of it, and I did it because my mother stepped in on two counts, she was both a mother and a father. That’s the power of being a black woman in America,” Usher added. “Everything I’ve accomplished, I didn’t do it alone. I want to thank those who aren’t here to witness this moment, who are fathers or who were like fathers to me.”

Usher also named singer Harry Belafonte, who died in April 2023, record producer Quincy Jones and the late music executive Clarence Avant as some of the men he looked up to throughout his career.

He also spoke about the power of forgiveness, saying that he publicly forgives those “who have had something negative to say about me because that only motivated me to realize who I am.”

“‘Good Good’ is more than just a song,” he said of the second track on his latest record. Return home.

“I’m trying to start a new chapter. We have to be cool for the kids,” he told his ex-wife Tameka Foster, with whom he has his eldest sons Usher “Cinco” Raymond V and Naviyd Ely.

Referring to rapper and record producer Swizz Beatz’s relationship with his ex-wife Mashonda and current wife Alicia Keys and how they all “manage to juggle things,” he said, “I’m trying with Tameka.”

Speaking directly to his sons in the audience, he said, “It’s 100 percent about my kids and making sure they understand that if they’re really committed, their dreams can come true. If they dedicate themselves to something, find passion for it and stick with it, that could be you. This could be your moment.”

“Not on this stage, because I’m the only one who will have that moment,” he joked to laughter from the audience, “but you could have a moment like that too.”

Usher concluded with a Bible verse: “Let he who knows no sin cast the first stone. You have to be willing to forgive, we have to be willing to be open. I’m telling you, you’re standing in front of a man who had to forgive a man who never showed up, ever. And look what I’ve done with it. Look what I’ve been able to do. But that’s the reality, and that’s what makes us human. That’s what makes us men and women. Thank you all.”