{"id":2016525,"date":"2026-06-29T02:11:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T23:11:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2016525"},"modified":"2026-06-29T02:11:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T23:11:22","slug":"janet-jackson-presents-teyana-taylor-with-icon-of-the-year-award-at-2026-bet-awards-i-will-wear-this-title-loud-proud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2016525","title":{"rendered":"Janet Jackson Presents Teyana Taylor With Icon of the Year Award at 2026 BET Awards: \u2018I Will Wear This Title Loud & Proud\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2283773288-e1782695482546.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\tTrending on Billboard\t\t<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tTeyana Taylor was honored with the Icon of the Year Award at the 2026 BET Awards on Sunday night (June 28). <\/p>\n

\n\tJanet Jackson, who\u2019s Taylor\u2019s main artistic inspiration, made a surprise appearance to present the Harlem-bred polymath with the award, which caught Taylor off guard and saw her immediately break down in tears. <\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tHere Are the Winners of the 2026 BET Awards: Updating\u00a0Live\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tOliver Tree Memorial Service to Be Livestreamed on July 25\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tBTS Kicks Off European Leg of ARIRANG Tour With Highly Anticipated Debut in Spain: \u2018Let\u2019s Go Crazy!\u2019\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n\t\u201cIt seems like only yesterday, our rose from Harlem grew out of the concrete and blossomed into our Icon of the Year. I\u2019ve enjoyed watching you, as you know, over the years,\u201d Jackson gushed. \u201cWatching you defy expectations, rewrite the rules and lead with an unstoppable work ethic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRocking a 2Pac T-shirt, the pop icon continued: \u201cThe world is made more luminous with the art that you have given it. This year, it belongs to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tOvercome with emotion, Taylor wiped her tears and hit a Janet Jackson-esque strut across the stage in a blue dress to accept the Icon of the Year Award, but made sure to give Jackson her flowers before turning the spotlight to herself. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI love you so much,\u201d Taylor said to Jackson. \u201cThank you for always seeing me. Thank you for every text, every hug, every talk. You are my biggest inspiration. Everybody who I know knows how I feel about you. The fact you even took out the time to be here and celebrate with me, this is crazy. I love you so much. There would be no me without you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTaylor went on: \u201cTonight they handed me a title and that title is Icon of the Year. For a little minute, I wondered if I was supposed to be feel uncomfortable saying that title out loud. But nah, I worked my a\u2013 off 20 years for this. So I\u2019m not what I\u2019ve earned with arrogance, I\u2019m accepting what I\u2019ve earned with gratitude.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTaylor urged the importance of pouring into others, as she believed that helping others doesn\u2019t mean she has to dim her own light. \u201cSo tonight I will wear this title loud and proud because I promise to continue to earn it,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\n\tTeyana Taylor is coming off a banner 2025, which included her starring in the Oscar-winning One Battle After Another<\/em>. For her performance as Perfidia, she picked up a Golden Globe Award and a nomination at the Academy Awards. The 34-year-old also released her Escape Room <\/em>album, which debuted at No. 67 on the Billboard 200. <\/p>\n

\n\tSpike Tee also picked up an additional three BET Awards, for video director of the year, the fashion vanguard award and best actress.<\/p>\n

\n\tWatch Taylor\u2019s full speech below.<\/p>\n

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[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/rb-hip-hop\/teyana-taylor-janet-jackson-icon-2026-bet-awards-1236282968\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2283773288-e1782695482546.jpg?w=1024″] Trending on Billboard Teyana Taylor was honored with the Icon of the Year Award at the 2026 BET Awards on Sunday night (June 28). Janet Jackson, who\u2019s Taylor\u2019s main artistic inspiration, made a surprise appearance to present the Harlem-bred polymath with the award, which caught Taylor off guard and saw her immediately […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,226],"class_list":["post-2016525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-billboard-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2016525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2016525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2016525\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2016525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2016525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2016525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}