Sunday's BET Awards to honour Whitney Houston

When Whitney Houston passed away 24 hours before this year’s Grammy Awards, producers of the telecast were forced to scramble to figure out the most appropriate way to honour the fallen pop star and remain sensitive to the news that had sent a crippling shock wave through the music industry.

While attention has turned to what the BET Awards, which air live on Sunday, have planned to honour Houston, executives couldn’t help but recall 2009’s telecast that had to be revamped following the passing of Michael Jackson.

“I empathise with the Grammys a lot, to have that type of tragedy a day, or two days, before your show really changes your whole perspective,” said Debra Lee, chairman and chief executive of BET. “Michael died on that Thursday [before the Sunday telecast], so we really didn’t have many weekdays to turn it around. But it was a labour of love.”

“The Grammys did a good job. LL Cool J was really great,” Lee said. “But it’s a thin line between turning the whole show over to someone and paying tribute to him.”

Following Jackson’s death, the 2009 BET show had to be hastily reorganised into a celebration of Jackson and his music.

BET Awards executive producer Stephen Hill is mum on details regarding the portion of the show dedicated to Houston, but the network confirmed the tribute would be led by the late singer’s mother, the ultimate stamp of approval.

“Our Whitney tribute is so right, it’s so classy,” Hill promised. “It’s the closure that people will feel, and felt they haven’t had elsewhere.”

BET is still faced with the challenge of feting Houston without neglecting the list of heavyweights in the community who have passed since last year’s telecast: Beastie Boys’ Adam “MCA” Yauch, Heavy D, Sylvia Robinson, Nick Ashford, Donna Summer, Etta James, Don Cornelius and Amy Winehouse are just a few.

Lee agreed that the last year has presented a particular challenge, especially as they don’t want to slight anyone.

“You don’t want to turn it into a memorial service” though, Lee said. “It’s also a celebration of music and artists that are alive. You don’t want to make it too much of a downer. But this has been a tough year for black artists.”