Will Smith to perform new single at 2024 BET Awards

Vivian Kwarm | New York Daily News

The “Fresh Prince” is gearing up for a comeback with an upcoming performance at the 2024 BET Awards.

The news was announced in a press release from BET, where the network’s EVP of Music Programming & Music Strategy, Connie Orlando, referred to Will Smith as a “global icon.”

“From his start as a rapper to The Fresh Prince to being a box office king as one of the Bad Boys, Will Smith is truly a global icon, and we are honored to welcome him back to grace the BET Awards stage,” Orlando said. “We look forward to Will adding to yet another defining night for the culture that is not to be missed.”

The four time Grammy winner will perform a new original song at the annual award ceremony.

Smith has been leaning into his hip hop background ever since December when he performed at the “A Grammy Salute to 50 Years of Hip-Hop” with DJ Jazzy Jeff. In April, he also surprised a screaming Coachella crowd when he hopped on stage with singer J Balvin to perform his 1997 song “Men In Black.”

Smith’s BET award appearance comes more than two years after his infamous Oscar moment when he slapped Chris Rock for making a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.

Subsequently, Smith resigned from the Academy and was banned from attending the ceremony for 10 years. Since then, Smith starred in “Emancipation” before he and Martin Lawrence recently released Bady Boys: Ride or Die” this year.

Dubbed as “culture’s biggest night,” the BET Awards will also feature performances from Lauryn Hill, GloRilla, Tyla, Victoria Monet and Shaboozey.

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