The Jacksons and New Edition will perform together during the BET Awards weekend this year, Stephen Hill, Director of Music Programming and Specials, told the Tom Joyner Morning Show today. That two of the hottest male groups in music history will share a stage was but one of many announcements around the BET Awards this week. Drake is the lead nominee with 12 nods and Chris Brown and R.Kelly will perform on the show that airs live from Los Angeles at 8 p.m. on June 30th. Actor/comedian Chris Tucker, just off a role in the Oscar-winning film “Silver Linings Playbook” will be the host.
“Chris Tucker will be hosting and we had a press conference with him the other day and he was killing it at the press conference so you know what he’s going to do on stage,” Hill said.
Hill promised Tom Joyner a surprise performance that he says the radio personality will love.
“We’re getting one of your favorite groups back together,” Hill told the Tom Joyner Morning Show. “They’ve been broken up for a while but we worked the different angles to get them together in the same place at the same time. They’re going to be getting back to together, one of Tom’s favorite groups of all time.”
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Hill wouldn’t confirm or deny any guesses, though Joyner guessed everyone from Kool and The Gang to Rufus to Shalamar to the Commodores. (We like the Commodores for this one.)
Hill promises that Brown, who announced a new duet with the late singer Aaliyah’s never heard before vocal for a song called “They Don’t Know” from his new album “X,” won’t be doing any onstage artwork. The controversial singer got in trouble with his neighbors recently for graffiti-inspired artwork painted on the restraining wall of his Hollywood Hills home.
“He’ll be doing artwork with his feet and his mouth onstage,” Hill laughed. “Artistic expression comes in so many, very different, ways.”
The BET Awards will showcase it in all it’s varying ways during the show, as Beyonce, Miguel, Snoop Lion, Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole will all be part of the show. And now, BET fans have the opportunity to be part of The BET Experience, a three-day event starting June 28, that offers various perks including admission to several concerts and the BET Awards.
“Everyone has come out for the weekend whether they had tickets or not for the last several years,” Hill said. “So it’s going to be a great weekend.”
