Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter will be honored with the prestigious Humanitarian Award at the upcoming 20th annual BET Awards ceremony.
On Thursday (June 25), the network announced that it will be presenting the global phenom and 24-time Grammy-award winning artist with the honor, citing her charitable work through her BeyGOOD initiative — which has done everything from providing scholarships to college students to partner with UNICEF to creating a multi-year partnership to bring safe water and sanitation to East African country Burundi — and her recent efforts “for the #IDIDMYPART mobile testing initiative to encourage residents in Houston in Black and brown communities, disproportionately affected by COVID-19, to know their status,” BET said in a statement.
“She has also donated to support organizations on the ground helping to meet basic health and mental needs in vulnerable communities, affected by the crisis,” the statement continued. “For Juneteenth, following the release of her latest song, ‘Black Parade,’ Beyoncé announced the creation of BeyGOOD’s Black Business Fund, administered by the National Urban League, to support Black-owned small businesses.”
Hosted by comedian and actress Amanda Seales, this year’s BET Awards show, which will be held virtually, will also honor Nicolas Johnson, Timbaland, Swizz Beatz and D-Nice as the 2020 Shine a Light Honorees, which recognizes “exceptional resilience, ingenuity and creativity in the face of adversity.”
French activist Assa Traoré will be honored with the 2020 BET International Global Good award, which recognizes “world acts who use their platform to social responsibility while demonstrating a commitment to the welfare of the global Black community.”
The 20th annual BET Awards show will air on BET and CBS on Sunday (June 28) at 8 p.m. ET.
