BET just turned off two of the last bright lights on our cultural stage. The suspension of the Soul Train and Hip Hop Awards is not a programming tweak, it is a message.
I grew up watching Soul Train and later the BET Awards in their prime. Back then, those shows were more than entertainment. They were a lifeline. They were where we saw ourselves, heard ourselves, and celebrated ourselves when the mainstream barely acknowledged our existence. These stages were born out of necessity because the Grammys and other institutions refused to fully recognize black talent and the culture that shaped American music.
Now, BET has announced the indefinite suspension of the Soul Train Awards and the Hip Hop Awards. It lands in a broader political climate where erasing or downplaying black cultural influence is not subtle, it is deliberateThe irony is hard to miss. Hip hop and R&B are not fading, they are leading. In 2024, they accounted for nearly 30 percent of all music streams in the United States, making them the most dominant genres in the country. Our art stands at the center of global music consumption, yet the stages that were built to honor it are going dark. That is no coincidence.
“Hip hop and R&B make up nearly 30 percent of all music streams in America. …. At a time when our cultural contributions dominate the charts, our stages should be expanding, not disappearing.”
Let me be clear: part of me has not liked what I have seen on those shows for years. What began as celebrations of artistry, dignity, and the full spectrum of black talent drifted into overexposure of materialism, hyper-sexualization, and a narrow vision of success. As a father and as someone who cares about the messages our children receive, I could not ignore that shift.
But here is where the danger lies. The problem was not that the shows needed to end, it was that they needed to evolve. They needed leadership that could recenter the celebration on the music, the craft, and the cultural depth that made them necessary in the first place. Instead, they have been pulled from the air entirely. In today’s climate, that is not just business. That is cultural removal.
We have seen this pattern before. Dismantle what we built for ourselves, erase the history of why it was built, then control the narrative going forward. It happened with our newspapers. It happened with our community institutions. Now it is happening with the award shows that told the world we mattered.
The loss of these platforms is about more than trophies. It is about visibility, legacy, and the power to define ourselves on our own terms. At a time when our cultural contributions dominate the charts, our stages should be expanding, not disappearing.
If there is a lesson here, it is that we cannot rely on corporate owned platforms to guard our legacy. The next chapter must be ours to write, without waiting for permission, without compromising the story. We have the talent, the technology, and the audience. What we need is the will to build stages that honor the depth, the dignity, and the brilliance of our people, and to protect them fiercely.
Because when the stage goes dark, it’s not the music that dies. It’s the memory of who made it.
• • •• • •
M o r e:
The Big Beautiful Lie
The War for Your Mind is Being Televised
AI and Black Influence
The Quiet Dismantling
Cloaked in Our Right Minds
The Real Fight Is Inside
Dr. Tim Goler is Associate Professor of Sociology and Urban Affairs at Norfolk State University. He also serves as the Director of Research at NSU’s Center for African American Public Policy. A native Clevelander, he hails from the city’s Glenville neighborhood and is co-founder of PolicyBridge.