Muni Long Acknowledges WGA Strike At 2023 BET Awards

On Sunday, June 25, the biggest names in Black entertainment attended the 2023 BET Awards.

The awards, which honour the year’s best performances in music, television, film, and sports, were presented live from Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theatre. One highlight of the event was when Muni Long took the stage at the 2023 BET Awards to acknowledge the writers’ strike and the members of the WGA.

“I must take a moment to acknowledge and stand in solidarity with the artists who make us laugh, cry, and most importantly, think — our Writers Guild of America family,” Long said before presenting Kaliii’s performance.

She continued, “Writers are, in many instances, the glue to the execution of artistry and storytelling. Our ability to extract emotion from performers helping them to articulate their voices and vision to the world is irreplaceable. The protection of the writer is crucial. We simply must protect our intellectual property.”

Throughout the night of the BET Awards, the writers strike was acknowledged informing the viewing audience they did not have writers and everything was impromptu. The award show was not picketed by the WGA but did go along without a host for the night.

Sister network MTV was affected by the writers strike at the MTV Movie & TV Awards in May. Ahead of the event, host Drew Barrymore dropped out of hosting duties in solidarity with the writers but said she would preside over the show the following year.

BET Awards went without a host but had Kid Capri “curating” musical medleys throughout the night in homage to the celebration of the 50 years of Hip Hop.