BET Networks and Beverly Bond, CEO, founder and creator of “BLACK GIRLS ROCK!™”are excited to announce this year’s BLACK GIRLS ROCK!™ Awards taping on Sunday, August 26, 2018 at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center’s Prudential Hall in Newark, NJ. The broadcast will premiere on Sunday, September 9, 2018 at 8:00 P.M. ET/PT on BET.
The 2018 BLACK GIRLS ROCK!™ celebrants are Academy Award®-nominated actress and GRAMMY® Award winning singer Mary J. Blige (Star Power Award); World renowned dancer/choreographer and Artistic Director Emerita of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Judith Jamison (Living Legend Award); International Supermodel and Philanthropist Naomi Campbell (Black Girl Magic Award); Emmy Award winning writer, creator, actress and dedicated LGBTQ advocate Lena Waithe (Shot Caller Award); and founder of the groundbreaking ‘Me Too’ movement Tarana Burke (Community Change Agent Award).
The dynamic, three-time NAACP Award winning “BLACK GIRLS ROCK!™” on BET celebrates women throughout the diaspora by shining a light on the many accomplishments and contributions of influential Black women and girls.
This year’s performers include Yolanda Adams, Tamia, H.E.R., Victory Boyd and Alvin Ailey Dance Theater’s Jacqueline Green. The 2018 BLACK GIRLS ROCK!™ Awards will also feature special appearances by Ava DuVernay, Ciara, Misty Copeland, Naturi Naughton, Storm Reid and Niatia Kirkland. The 2018 BLACK GIRLS ROCK!™ will honor the legendary ‘Queen of Soul’ Aretha Franklin in a star-studded tribute fit for a Queen!
“Each year I’m humbled to gather and celebrate Black women’s excellence, intelligence and savoir-faire. This year we are honoring women who are the Queens of their respective industries and celebrating the memory of our forever Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, who left us with classics and an example of how to take on life with resilience and grace. I am grateful to BET for helping to elevate the BLACK GIRLS ROCK!™ mission and for being our partners in exalting the royalty of Black women and girl” – BLACK GIRLS ROCK! ™ CEO, Founder and Creator Beverly Bond.
The televised special is a BET Networks, B.G.R. Enterprises Inc./BONDVISION MEDIA and Jesse Collins Entertainment production. The executive producers are Beverly Bond, CEO, founder and creator of “BLACK GIRLS ROCK!™”, Connie Orlando, Head of Programming for BET Networks and Jesse Collins and Jeannae Rouzan – Clay of Jesse Collins Entertainment.
For updates or more information about BLACK GIRLS ROCK! ™ visit http://www.BET.com/blackgirlsrock and www.blackgirlsrock.com
ABOUT BLACK GIRLS ROCK! ™:
Founded by celebrity DJ, model and executive producer Beverly Bond, The BLACK GIRLS ROCK! Awards show was created to celebrate the nexus of achievements of exemplary women of color who break boundaries, blaze trails, and set trends across sectors. Since 2006, the annual BLACK GIRLS ROCK! Awards has honored an outstanding range of accomplished and inspiring women across generations and genres. BLACK GIRLS ROCK! has been committed to empowering women through media and enriching girls through leadership, education, and positive identity development programs. For additional information on BLACK GIRLS ROCK!, visit http://www.blackgirlsrock.com.
ABOUT BET NETWORKS:
BET Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIA.B), is the nation’s leading provider of quality entertainment, music, news and public affairs television programming for the African-American audience. The primary BET channel reaches more than 90 million households and can be seen in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom and sub-Saharan Africa. BET is the dominant African-American consumer brand with a diverse group of business extensions: BET.com, a leading Internet destination for Black entertainment, music, culture, and news; BET HER, a 24-hour entertainment network targeting the African-American Woman; BET Music Networks – BET Jams, BET Soul and BET Gospel; BET Home Entertainment; BET Live, BET’s growing festival business; BET Mobile, which provides ringtones, games and video content for wireless devices; and BET International, which operates BET around the globe.
ABOUT JESSE COLLINS ENTERTAINMENT:
Jesse Collins Entertainment (JCE) is a full service television and film production company founded by entertainment industry veteran Jesse Collins. For more than a decade, Collins has played an integral role in producing some of television’s most memorable moments in music entertainment. Collins has produced ground-breaking and award winning television programming including the BET Awards, the GRAMMY Awards, Soul Train Awards, BET Honors, UNCF An Evening of Stars, ABFF Awards and the BET Hip Hop Awards. Collins was an executive producer of the hit TV series, Real Husbands of Hollywood starring Kevin Hart, the critically-acclaimed The New Edition Story, a biopic on the boy band that aired as a 3-part mini-series on BET in January 2017 and posted record ratings for the network and attracted nearly 30 million viewers. He is also the executive producer of VH1 shows Dear Mama and Hip Hop Squares with Ice Cube. He has appeared on the cover of Vibe magazine and has been featured in numerous publications including Ebony magazine. JCE will next produce The Bobby Brown Story. The mini-series will pick up where The New Edition mini-series left off and chronicle the talented but troubled singer’s exit from the popular ’80s boy band through his solo success, his affair with Janet Jackson and tabloid-fodder marriage to pop icon Whitney Houston. Spanning 30 years of Brown’s life, the new project follows his story from the hard streets of Roxbury, where he turned to a life of drug dealing before being given the chance to prove himself as a solo artist. The Bobby Brown Story also will be a story about redemption. Through sobriety, the singer learns to be a better man, husband and father — finding love again and remarrying in 2012. It will air on BET in September 2018.