Kevin Hart made sure to keep Kanye West locked outside the building while taking what seemed to be some subtle digs at Sean “Diddy” Combs during his 2025 BET Awards monologue.
The host largely kept his roasts light and fun as he opened the show, noting all the stars in the building and joking near the end of his set that he’d been receiving calls all day from folks hoping to snag a seat. Hart then pretended to get a text, and after looking at his phone, deadpanned, “Aw shit, it’s Kanye. Yeah. He says he’s out front, he’s waiting for somebody to invite him in. Hey! Don’t do it! We all saw the movie Sinners, don’t let his ass in here so he can bite somebody!”
Hart then cracked, through his own laughter, “So he can bite Playboi Carti — again! Playboi Carti definitely been bit, something happened.”
Earlier in his monologue, Hart set up some strict rules for the 2025 BET Awards, chief among them: “I’m shutting down the idea of afterparties. No afterparties tonight. None. Take your asses home after this — that’s why I did it on a Monday. People gotta go to work tomorrow. No afterparties!”
Then, in what could be perceived as a nod to Combs, who’s currently on trial for sex trafficking and racketeering, Hart quipped, “That’s where shit gets slippery, at them goddamn afterparties. We learning a lot about people, ain’t we? We’re learning a lot. Take your asses home.”
One of Hart’s other “rules” for the night was that he vowed to keep things classy and only refer to attendees by their government names, no nicknames or rap names. He gave shout-outs to Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (Lil Wayne), Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. (Snoop Dogg), and Gloria Hallelujah Woods — “A lot of people expected to see a big church lady in the back selling fish plates,” Hart cracked of the latter. “No, that’s GloRilla!”
Hart also had a very specific rule for one attendee, gospel star Kirk Franklin, who was one of this year’s Ultimate Icon Award honorees. “Kirk, do me a favor, when you get your award tonight, don’t come up here front twerking! Don’t come up here popping… He be trying to blame it on the Lord. The Lord didn’t ask for that.”
Along with Hart, last night’s BET Awards also featured performances from Playboi Carti, Lil Wayne, and Teyana Taylor. Kendrick Lamar took home Album of the Year for GNX, while Doechii gave one of the night’s most fiery speeches after winning Best Female Hip-Hop Artist, slamming President Donald Trump’s response to the anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles.
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