BET 25 Strong
The Silver Anniversary After-Party @ The Cabana
by Kleopatragirl writer, Eugenia Wright
What a party, what a party is all I can say about BET's 25 th Silver Anniversary bash. It was a mega UGE knock-out and all of entertainment’s heavyweights were at the Cabana in Hollywood, starting with Championship boxer, Mike Tyson (he’ll always be a champion in my book), super “mad” knockout Kimberly Elise and stunner Elise Neal. Add to that slamming filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, The Haiti Royal Prince Won-G, Bet’s diva Kym Whitley, Rap King Pin Nelly, Crooner Ollie Woodson, Comedian Rodney Perry, the undisputable MC Hammer and gorgeous bevies all over the place, some starlets and others who were just hired help from the club maid in LA passing out the hors d’oeuvres. Put a spotlight on them and any out of towner would swear they were stars.
It was a blast. At midnight, the bewitching hour (it always starts at that time), the first celebrity sighting came into view and from then on it escalated til this girl left about 1:45AM. Did I say it was jammed like sardines? I was grabbed by Haiti Prince’s dad “Popi” and so was a very popular paparazzi that I will identify by the initials MA and like a true Godfather it was a takeover of the journalist and the photographer. He kept saying "come here baba" to the photographer all the while securing my hand. We thought we were doing great, standing at the door interviewing and taking pics like pros, but once Popi shanghai expressed us we were part of his pied piper entourage that I believe included a Saudi Prince (but let’s not spread rumors). I said shukran and he said afwan (thanks and your welcome in arabic). Anyway, that’s how we found Quentin snuggled under a cabana in a corner with lots of coco cuties. Hmmm, wonder if he’ll put them in his next flick? And we also discovered MC Hammer hiding behind shades in a serious conversation with QT. Nelly was cool though. When he came in, the press (myself and two photographers) were sitting at a table with a view of the entrance, suddenly we were rushed by a waitress who said, we had to move “now”, when I asked why, she said, we have to give this table to Nelly. Pardon me. We were just warming the seats. No more questions asked, we booked to find strategic posts elsewhere, that’s when we got hi-jacked by the ex Haitian military general “Popi.”
We would have missed it all, if we had just stayed at the door like good press should do. Many celebs must have come out of the woodwork. I have to confess, it’s so much fun to be part of the party and not a voyeur through a long lens.
Well, it was “off the chain” and then some. There were so many shout outs to BET. Seems like everyone of color was in gratitude to the network and deservingly so. Here are a few comments.
Mike Tyson - "Wonderful job, Awesome staying power and consistency. They are always on the top of their game."
Elise Neal - " BET has pretty much paid my rent (LOL). I started off as a singer/dancer living in New York and a lot of their videos in the 90's I was actually in. I did stuff for Black Sheep and Vanessa Williams. So the music and the hip hop and the influence that especially in the early 90's BET brought to television was very important to my career. But at this time it's very informative in a way for me to learn about culture see the new shows. Tonight, was a great show." (To Bob Johnson) "Bob thank you for everything you have begun and I hope we will continue it with the class you have presented."
Kym Whitley - "I love you BET. I want to thank you for making my name a household name."
Bishop Don Juan - "The Funk was in the house. Congratulations to Bob on the 25th Anniversary."
Won-G - "Yo what's up. The BET show was the bomb!"
Rodney Perry -" BET is black. BET is Rodney Perry!"
You know, BET does it so right, from shows to parties. I hope to celebrate with them for another 25 strong years.
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Photo Credit: Malcolm Ali www.finaimage.com
Eugenia Wright is a freelance writer and contributor to many entertainment publications including DV8 Magazine, Urban Film Premiere Magazine and Metro LA. She has frequently contributed to Dennica's Place and EURweb and is President of ISA Public Relations a Glendale based boutique PR agency.
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