Keke Palmer Steals the Show at BET Awards 2026 During Cardi B Intro
Just how joyful, joyful were the feelings in the room when Lauryn Hill was honored at the 2026 BET Awards?
Queen Latifah, Common, Doechii, Doja Cat, SZA, Lizzo and more teamed up for a special medley—which started The War and Treaty singer Tanya Trotter‘s moving take on the spirited competition-clinching climax of Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit, which signaled in 1993 that Hill was a luminous talent to watch before she broke out as a premiere hip-hop artist with The Fugees—ahead of the 51-year-old being presented with the Living Legend Icon Award at the June 28 ceremony that took place at Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater.
And just when you thought the tribute couldn’t get any more buoyant and emotional, her sons Zion Marley—as in her ode “To Zion” off of her groundbreaking 1998 solo album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill—and YG Marley, as well as daughter Selah, joined the celebration onstage.
Hill shares Zion, YG, Selah, son John and daughter Sara with ex Rohan Marley. John, celebrating his 23rd birthday, and University of Miami-bound Sara didn’t perform but were in the audience, as the crowd was informed by their proud mom.
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While The Fugees only released two albums, one of them was the smash hit 1996 LP The Score, featuring their oh-so-memorable cover of Robert Flack‘s “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” featuring Hill’s velvety vocals.
And then she may have only put out that one solo LP, but the aftershocks are still rippling across the culture to this day from The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, the first (and still only first of two) hip-hop release to win the Grammy for Album of the Year.
The crew gathered onstage—which also included Tierra Whack, Tems, Nas, Rapsody and Alexia Jayy—was testament to how much education she has provided her fellow artists since.
And you don’t see an awards show tribute every day that requires an intermission, the ceremony going to commercial break after a run that included snippets of “Fu-Gee-Law,” “Killing Me Softly,” “Doo Wop (That Thing),” “Lost Ones” and more before Hill took the stage for her own fiery performance of “Ex-Factor.”
“I do this because I love y’all, you know?” she said as her acceptance speech got underway after Ice Cube handed her the actual statue. “I do this because I want you to have everything that I experienced, right? I had wonderful parents who loved on me, poured into me and protected me. And once I realized that not everybody got to have that experience, I felt like it was my duty, my responsibility to share as much love, and to pour into as much people as I possibly could. And music was a way for me to do that.”
Hill continued, “But also, I have always cared about the expression of and the representation of the dignity of our people.”
Noting that sometimes artists are put in places to say things that “aren’t always comfortable,” she added, “we understand that people will understand later.”
“Everybody may not know it, but I fight for y’all,” Hill said. “And fighting for y’all is me fighting for myself. It’s me fighting for my children, it’s me fighting for my parents, it’s me fighting for my grandparents. It’s me fighting for my community.”
We all have different gifts, the artist added, and that’s important “because somebody out there needs your gift, so don’t sell your gift short.”
And then she closed the show with “Everything Is Everything,” which doesn’t always feel like the case, but tonight it did.
See all the stars who came out to experience this and so much more at the 2026 BET Awards:
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Druski
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Kelly Rowland
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Keke Palmer
In Gucci
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Doechii
In Dsquared2
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French Montana
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Queen Latifah
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Janet Jackson
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Teyana Taylor
In Stephane Rolland
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Jamie Foxx
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Kehlani
In CHATS by C.DAM
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Lizzo
In Christian Cowan
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Chlöe Bailey
In Valdrin Sahiti
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Gabby Thomas
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Eva Marcille
In Muehleder
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Skai Jackson
In Do Long
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Tia Mowry
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T.I.
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Mercy Miller, Master P, Hercy Miller
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Olandria
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Coco Jones
In Basil Soda
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Deon Cole
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Jaafar Jackson, Nia Long
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Jamie Foxx, Anelise Bishop
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Flo Milli
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Meagan Tandy
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Jimmy Jam
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Lindsey Diann
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Eric Benet
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Rick Ross
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JaNa Craig
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