BET Awards viewers were wondering why they got it bad as a sizable portion of Usher’s acceptance speech wasn’t audible for those watching from home on Sunday.
The singer and Super Bowl halftime show performer was honored with a star-studded tribute before hitting the stage to accept the BET Lifetime Achievement Award at Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater.
“By the way, I should caution you that I like to talk and I have a way with words,” warned Usher, who added that his remarks were unprepared because he wanted to be “present” in the moment.
Usher proceeded to declare that he still loves “this shit” as he spoke of his career and, later, appeared to be censored for cursing more — and some more— before larger portions of the speech were inaudible for those watching the broadcast.
“And I get it, I understand, sometimes you gotta go through some shit to get to something,” said the singer before his words seemed to cut out more. Although viewers wondered if the muting was due to his use of expletives, a Billboard reporter said the singer did not swear much through the speech.
In a statement Monday, a BET spokesperson, cited “an audio malfunction during the LIVE telecast” as cause for parts of Usher’s speech being “inadvertently muted.”
“We extend our sincere apology to USHER as we couldn’t be more grateful for his participation in Culture’s Biggest Night,” wrote the spokesperson, who added that those who missed the full speech can watch the uploaded speech on BET’s YouTube channel.
Social media users quickly mocked the network and weren’t feeling how it handled sound on Sunday.