All hail the Queen! 

Queen Latifah accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2021 BET Awards on Sunday night at the Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theater. Latifah was accompanied by her father, Lancelot Owens, Sr. on stage, and had a picture of her late mother, Rita Owens.

Queen Latifah accepts the Lifetime Achievement BET Award.

Bennett Raglin

While accepting the award, she recognized God, her parents, and close friends for being a great support system. She also thanked her team and her business partner, Shakim Compere.

The multi-hyphenate entertainer continued by thanking BET for providing a platform for “blackness to thrive.”

“When we couldn’t get played on the radio and other places, we couldn’t get our videos played in other places, there was BET,” said Latifah. “That allowed us to be in our fullness and to shine to this night right now, right here.”


Queen Latifah on CBS reboot “The Equalizer”

07:26

Before accepting the award, Latifah watched Lil’ Kim, MC Lyte, Monie Love, and Rapsody honor her with melodies from her long catalogue of music. 

The 2021 BET Awards aired Sunday night, and was hosted by Taraji P. Henson.