‘Bigger than Oprah’
Black Entertainment Television kicked off inauguration week on the right note with its BET Honors program, held Saturday night at the Warner Theatre. For a city ready to embrace all of the celebrities coming to town for Barack Obama: There were plenty: Queen Latifah, Terrence Howard, Mary J. Blige, Magic Johnson and Whitney Houston, just to name a few.
Although the evening’s official raison d’être was to honor Blige, Johnson, Tyler Perry, Judith Jamison, B. Smith and Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., it was hard to avoid excited chatter about Tuesday’s inauguration of the nation’s first African-American president: Barack Obama.
“God is good!” Latifah told Yeas & Nays. And, as for the outgoing president, she said “retirement is good!” It was a sentiment shared by many others, including Star Jones and musician Ne-Yo, both of whom just gave us the same parting message for President Bush: “Good-bye!”
“My reaction to Obama’s presidency is ‘Thank God,'” said Ne-Yo. “I was really losing faith in America, just the close-mindedness of America. … He’s an inspiration. I haven’t written my Obama song yet but it’s on the way.”
“The Obama’s impact on DC’s culture will be greater than any we’e ever seen,” said Clyburn. “He is a man of the community.”
BET CEO Debra Lee added that Obama’s win means that one other barrier has finally been broken: “He’s bigger than Oprah now!”
