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CNN Live At Daybreak
Millions of Americans Expected to Watch BET Awards
Aired June 25, 2002 - 06:38 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk entertainment now. Millions of Americans are expected to watch BET Awards -- the BET Awards show tonight. That's Black Entertainment Television. Among others, the show will feature an appearance by boxing great, Mohammad Ali. He is expected to receive the humanitarian award.
Joining me on the phone from Los Angeles is Curtis Gadson, the executive producer of the awards show -- good morning.
CURTIS GADSON, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, BET AWARDS: Good morning. How are you?
COSTELLO: Oh, you have a big night ahead of you.
GADSON: I certainly do.
COSTELLO: This is only the second time that this will air. Tell us about it.
GADSON: Well, a few years ago, our viewers were demanding that we produce an awards show and that targeted our audience. And from those demands, from cards and letters and phone calls, we decided the thing that we must do was an awards show. And...
COSTELLO: And tell us all about some of the awards you are going to hand out. It's for best music video, best group, tell us more.
GADSON: Best music video, best hip-hop artist, best R&B artist. What we are really proud of is the humanitarian award, which will be given to Mohammad Ali. And the lifetime achievement award, which will be given to Earth, Wind and Fire, and they will perform live.
COSTELLO: Oh, you are kidding! With all of the original group members?
GADSON: Absolutely. That's incredible. The rehearsal yesterday, everybody was standing and applauding and screaming for them. When you have the crews and the camera people and the audio people standing and applauding, you know you have something special.
COSTELLO: In the -- oh, you are not kidding. I can't wait to see them. I just love them. And you know, some here at CNN who are young don't even remember Earth, Wind and Fire. GADSON: You know, I have a son. My young son is 19, and he is like, Earth, Wind and Fire? But you know, when he started to hear the music, he was like, oh, yes. I know that music.
COSTELLO: Let's talk about music videos, because there are certainly some great ones out there. The one that caught my attention was the P. Diddy one. Tell us about that.
GADSON: Yes. That one is nominated for video of the year, and "Pass the Courvoisier" is the name of it, Busta Rhymes and P. Diddy. And I also believe we have another one nominated by P. Diddy. But you know, all of the music videos, it's hard to pick the best music video, because they all take a lot of work, and they all cost millions of dollars to produce. And the artists work very, very, very hard on all of them. So it becomes extremely difficult to pick one as the best one or the other.
COSTELLO: Oh, you are not kidding.
GADSON: So it's tough (ph).
COSTELLO: Your awards show really runs the gamut. You are also going to pick the best actor, best actress in a film.
GADSON: Yes.
COSTELLO: And also the best athlete.
GADSON: Absolutely. Well, what we wanted to do was give our viewers, you know, a mixture of music, of entertainment, of sports and pick -- have them pick and have our entertainment executives pick the individuals who they feel were the ones who achieved the highest level of excellence in the past year.
COSTELLO: You know, with the success of Halle Barry and Denzel Washington as the Oscars this past year, is it really necessary to have an awards show that features only black artists?
GADSON: I think it absolutely is. Our audience, you know, demands this from us. And we are, you know, BET, Black Entertainment Television. And our dictate is to give our audience what they demand, what they say they want. So as long as the audience demands this from us, then we will give it to them.
COSTELLO: Something else I am sure the audience is demanding. You're going to have like a Joan Rivers type thing on fashion with the stars entering.
GADSON: The red carpet, yes. That should be very, very interesting, very lively, very colorful. You know...
COSTELLO: You're not going to have Joan Rivers do it, though.
GADSON: No. We have our own person, who we is called "Hits from the Street." Hits will be out there doing his antics, his comedy. Also, we will be broadcasting our show, "106 & Park," from the red carpet. "106 & Park" has become the No. 1 music program on cable television.
COSTELLO: Yes, it beat out that MTV show. That's pretty good -- congratulations to you. What time does it air?
GADSON: It airs at 9:00 p.m.
COSTELLO: Eastern Time.
GADSON: Don't be late. I tell you, it's going to be extremely -- the energy is going to just jump up and scream from 9:00 all the way through. So if you are late, you're going to miss something.
COSTELLO: OK. Thank you very much, Curtis Gadson joining us live by phone this morning from Los Angeles.
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