Yesterday at the EBT Bet Hip Hop Awards rappers Young Jeezy and Rick Ross reportedly got into a physical altercation back stage. According to TMZ sources, Ross and Jeezy exchanged words, which led to a pushing and shoving match. BET security and the security of both rappers eventually stepped in and were able to separate the two.
As the altercation took place, Radio DJ Funk Master Flex from Hot 97 in NY tweeted what was going on:
According to reliable sources, the drama continued in the Atlantic Civic Center parking lot, where shots were reportedly fired by members of the rappers’ entourage. One witness on the scene was visibly shaken up and stated “I just came to see a good show but to witness such violence at an award show is just sad. You would think Bet Security would have checked these guys for weapons before allowing them to enter the show”
A spokesperson for the Atlanta Police Department told TMZ:
“Shortly after 7:15 pm Saturday, a fight broke out in the parking lot at the Atlanta Civic Center (where the BET Awards were being taped) between two groups. Atlanta Police Department officers on scene responded to break up the fight and used OC spray in the process.”
Ross and Jeezy were once collaborators, but have been involved in a feud for the past couple of years.
After the Chris Lighty tribute was completed, the show’s host Mike Epps came out and greeted the crowd and said the show was over. Another witness told HHE that: We can’t believe they only handed out five awards with all those categories nominated, I probably wont be attending anymore of these type of shows and it is not a good representation of our city”
DJ Drama went on the radio in Atlanta after the awards to give his report on what went down. Apparently he saw the whole thing.
The witness at the scene was able to pull out their camera and video taped Gunplay getting jumped in the parking lot by five members of 50cents entourage.
Rapper Machine Gun Kelly sent out a tweet:
It hasn’t been confirmed if he was involved in either of the altercations or was just a innocent bystander, but he surely got maced in any event.
A BET rep tells TMZ: “BET Networks works very hard to bring the best in entertainment to the city of Atlanta. For the past 7 years BET has celebrated the true art form of Hip Hop. Due to some misjudgment of select attendees, it is unfortunate that certain incidents took place. BET Networks does not condone any type of violence.”
While we understand BET’s publicity team has to release a statement addressing the issue, over the last couple of years we have witnessed a steady deterioration of the professionalism that exists within their organization.
Every year at the BET Hip Hop Awards you can expect some type of violence. None of this madness seems to ever go on at other shows like the MTV or Grammy Awards thus BET must clean up their act if they expect to be taken seriously by their viewers.
The BET Network is often heavily criticized not only for the content shown on their channels but its inaccurate depiction of Afro-Americans through its programming . What went down last night will certainly give BET another strike against them for being one of the most “ghetto style” networks that represent people of color.
Hopefully the people involved will find a common place to resolve their differences amicably.
Check out some of the Artists on the red carpet:
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