BET’s “Black Girls Rock!” was taped Saturday night in New Jersey and the program brought out many beautiful and inspirational Black women, giving special honors to singers Queen Latifah and Patti LaBelle, and tennis champion Venus Williams.
The New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark filled with some of today’s most successful Black stars, including singer Jennifer Hudson and actor Regina King.
As Queen Latifah accepted her honors, she reminded the women in the audience that it is possible to turn dreams into reality.
“I’m happy it’s happening in Newark,” she said. “I was born here, and I always try to come home, to let everyone know in Newark, Irvington, East Orange, Jersey City, that we can dream, and we can make those dreams reality.”
Patti LaBelle proved she was still the top diva as she accepted the Living Legend Award presented to her by Mariah Carey.
When she made her way on to the stage, LaBelle asked Carey to hold her award for her while she delivered a short speech. But the mother of two said her arm was weak after she injured it while she was shooting a music video earlier this year.
Well, apparently the iconic LaBelle wasn’t hearing it. She told Carey to hold it anyway.
It was all in good fun as the two singers laughed together on stage before LaBelle finally got around to giving her acceptance speech.
Tennis pro Venus Williams was honored as a trailblazer in the Black community and for her had work striving for gender parity and equal prize money in professional tennis matches.
Unfortunately, Williams didn’t exactly put together a great look for the event. She paired a fitted floral dress with pink, white and black braids that looked rather skimpy.
Other stars, however, dominated the pink carpet with trendy looks and chic surprises.
Hudson flaunted her new haircut, which revealed she has officially joined team pixie cut.
While some stars didn’t exactly nail their short haircuts – Alicia Keys, for example – Hudson’s do was very elegant and framed her face beautifully.
Hudson loved the look so much that she couldn’t help but share a few pictures on her social media.
“Black girls rock! Yep, catch it!! You’ve been jenniferized… catch it!” she captioned the photo of her edgy cut.
She paired the new cut with an equally edgy outfit – a short black dress with knee-high leather boots. Simply put, she absolutely worked the pink carpet like no other.
Some other great looks came from Persia White, who rocked a taupe-colored flowing gown that had the “Vampire Diaries” actress looking like a Greek goddess, and celebrity trainer Jeanette Jenkins who o brought along her adorable goddaughter.
Of course, there were some less-than-amazing looks as well.
While Mariah Carey has lost a lot of weight, her body isn’t quite ready for a midriff-exposing crop top and maxi skirt, and even Kelly Rowland can’t make us feel okay about the sheer pants trend that has been catching fire lately.
Either way, the night was full of spectacular speeches and upbeat performances that easily made up for the fashion mistakes that slipped past the stars’ stylists.
“Black Girls Rock!” will air on Nov. 3 at 7:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. CT on BET.
