Kanye West was a big centerpiece of the BET Awards, both with his performance onstage, his acceptance speeches for his awards, and for his date Kim Kardashian, who sat perched next to him the whole night—at one point slipping her arms around him and hugging him from behind as he watched one of the artists perform.
When he won the award for Best Group with Jay-Z at the beginning of the show, Kanye appeared shocked when Jay-Z came from the wings to accept the award with him. Jay-Z later said he was stuck in L.A. traffic, which is why he missed the performance with Kanye. Kanye delivered an impressive freestyle during the performance, dropping the mic and stalking off the stage when he was done.
Kanye and Jay-Z had two videos up for Video of the Year, competing against Beyonce, who also had two nominations, along with Usher. Kanye and Jay were the winners—bringing another highlight during their acceptance speech, when Jay-Z interrupted Kanye in the middle of his speech. It was a tongue-in-cheek reference to one of Kanye’s worst moments, when he interrupted Taylor Swift during her acceptance speech for winning Video of the Year during the 2009 VMA Awards—beating Beyonce’s “Single Ladies,” much to Kanye’s chagrin.
Kanye laughed as Jay-Z hugged him after the interruption.
“I was defending your girl,” Kanye said, laughingly protesting.
