Johannesburg/Lagos, 15 May 2014: BET has revealed that Emmy and Grammy award winning comedian Chris Rock is to host this year’s BET Awards 2014.
The BET Awards 2014 will premiere across Africa on BET International on 1 July 2014 at 21:00 CAT.
“I watch the BET Awards every year. It’s one of my favourite award shows combining people from movies, sports, TV and music,” said Chris Rock. “Where else can you get Rick Ross and Michelle Obama in the same room?! The BET Awards is like a party where nothing is off limit. My peers have done the show; now it’s my turn.”
“We’ve been trying to make this happen for a VERY long while, and we’re ecstatic that Chris Rock will be the host of the BET Awards for the first time,” Stephen Hill, President of Music Programming and Specials at BET said. “Mr. Rock is a comedic genius with a rapier wit who is a keen observer of pop culture. We’re looking forward to what he is to unleash on June 29.”
Lauded by awards and critics alike, Chris Rock is one of our generation’s strongest comedic voices. The Brooklyn raised comedian has garnered four Emmy Awards, three GrammyR Awards, is listed as number five on Comedy Central’s “100 Greatest StandUps of All Time” and was honoured in 2006 with HBO’s esteemed “Comedian Award”.
Rock’s film credits include “Madagascar”, “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa” and “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted”, “Grown Ups”, “2 Days In New York”, “Death At A Funeral”, “Nurse Betty”, “Beverly Hills Cop II”, “Boomerang”, “Panther”, “New Jack City”, “I’m Gonna Get You Sucka!”, “Lethal Weapon 4”, “Dogma”, “Bad Company”, “Down To Earth”, “I Think I Love My Wife”, “The Longest Yard” and “Dr. Doolittle”.
Rock competed at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival as first‐time documentary filmmaker for his film, “Good Hair,” the critically‐acclaimed film won the Sundance “Special Jury Prize,” the NAACP Image Award for “Outstanding Documentary” and was named “Top Five Documentaries of 2009” by the National Board of Review.
In 2011 Rock made his Broadway debut starring in Stephen Adly Guirgis’s The Motherf**ker With The Hat. Rock hosted the 77th Annual Academy Awards in 2005, as well as the MTV Video Music Awards in 1999 and 2003. Rock’s debut book, Rock This, spent time on both The New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists.
A full list of the BET Award 2014 nominations is now available at www.BET.com.
Stephen G. Hill, BET’s President of Music Programming and Specials, Lynne Harris Taylor, BET’s Vice President of Specials, will serve as Executive Producers for the “BET Awards,” along with Jesse Collins, CEO of Jesse Collins Entertainment.
The “BET Awards” 2014 will take place on Sunday 29 June at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live in Los Angeles, California. The BET Awards 2014 will premiere on BET’s international network on 1 July 2014 at 21:00 CAT.
For further information about the BET Awards please go to www.BET.com/Awards.
