Beyoncé may have skipped the 2017 BET Awards on Sunday, June 25, but she still delivered a message to the crowd.
The singer, who welcomed twins with Jay Z earlier this month, asked her protégés Chloe x Halle to read her speech after winning the Coca-Cola Viewers’ Choice Award for “Sorry.”
“Thank you BET for this award and your tremendous support of Lemonade. This has been a journey of love, of celebrating our culture, honoring the past, and approaching the present and future with hope and resolve,” the speech began. “Thank you to my mother Tina Knowles Lawson for being my biggest, biggest teacher and consistent influence. Thank you to my entire family for so much love.”
Queen Bey also gave a shout-out to her supportive fans. “My BeyHive, for riding with me. I love and appreciate you,” Chloe x Halle said, reading the note. “To everyone at the show tonight, you all look so beautiful and at home, thank you and have a wonderful, wonderful night. From, Beyonce.”
Beyoncé may not have attended the event, but her younger sister, Solange Knowles, did. Solange, 31, picked up the Centric Award for her 2016 smash “Cranes in the Sky.”
“I wanna thank the universe for allowing this moment right here and my wonderful family and friends who have uplifted me,” Solange told the audience, without directly naming Bey. “I just want to thank BET for my teenage years, giving me images of queens like Missy Elliot and Lil’ Kim and Aaliyah and Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill and Kelis and Reese, and the list goes on.”
