Bob Johnson Leads Bet Awards Advisory Board With Six Members
BET awards business took a new turn as BET formed its first board of advisers, a six-member panel that brings Bob Johnson, Queen Latifah and LL Cool J back into the company’s orbit. The move arrives while BET+ is set to shut down next month and its content moves to Paramount+.
The board’s roster also includes Troy Vincent, Raymond J. McGuire and George Cheeks. BET called the six members “cultural icons, business leaders and industry visionaries,” and said the group will serve as “a strategic and cultural sounding board, offering insight, perspective, and accountability as BET expands its reach and continues to champion the voices and stories that move culture forward.”
Bob Johnson Returns
Bob Johnson’s place on the panel brings him back into BET’s structure two decades after he left as CEO. He sold Black Entertainment Television to Viacom in a $3 billion stock deal that closed in 2001, then remained CEO until 2006 before later forming RLJ Entertainment.
That return gives BET a founder’s perspective at the same moment the company is reshaping how its content sits inside Paramount Skydance. Paramount acquired Tyler Perry’s 25% ownership stake in BET+, and BET+ content will merge into Paramount+ next month.
Louis Carr And George Cheeks
Louis Carr, now president of BET, said the channel “has always been more than a platform. It is a cultural institution with a responsibility to serve, reflect and advance our community. As we enter this next chapter, this board brings together leaders whose influence, perspective and integrity will help ensure we continue to honor that responsibility while building what comes next.”
George Cheeks, Paramount Skydance’s chair of TV Media, sits on the advisory board alongside Carr’s new reporting line, after Scott Mills announced his exit from BET in December following 23 years with the company. That makes the board less ceremonial than it first sounds: BET is adding outside names while its leadership, streaming strategy and ownership structure all shift at once.
For viewers, the practical change is simple enough. BET+ is going away next month, its programming is moving to Paramount+, and the advisory board now gives BET a formal group to pressure-test how the brand expands while keeping its cultural identity intact.
