The 2022 Billboard Music Awards (BBMAs) will air on Sunday evening (May 15) and host Sean “Diddy” Combs says he will be using his hosting and executive producer roles to spread “love and forgiveness.”
The BBMAs host sat down with Billboard to discuss his upcoming BBMAs duties, saying that it will be a “family affair” where everyone is welcome.
The New York City native also commended the BBMAs decision to have Travis Scott and Morgan Wallen as part of the star-studded performance lineup.
“Travis went through a tragedy; Morgan [used the N-word] while talking to his boy,” the entertainment mogul said. “People make mistakes. Now we’re moving on with love and respect for everybody that was hurt or affected. It’s time to forgive.”
“To have Morgan and Travis be able to come back and touch the stage again with the mindset of getting a second chance at life. Everybody in the room is getting a second chance at life, you know, because we’re back inside with no masks on. We need love and I’m excited about celebrating that.”
He went on to explain that no one is perfect, including musicians, and that everyone deserves a second chance.
“As a musical family, none of us are saints; none of us are without things that happen to them in life,” Diddy shared. “So one of the things I’m doing directly is uncanceling the canceled.”
He continued, “That’s breaking news because people haven’t been about uncanceling, but canceling is a trend that needs to stop.”
Diddy later took to Instagram to explain that he actually “demanded” to have Scott perform. “I said, ‘My brother Travis Scott has to perform’… And NBC said yes.”
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In 2021, Wallen came under fire after drunkenly using a racial slur outside his home in Nashville. Wallen quickly apologized for his use of the n-word, however, controversy ensued as his music was pulled from radio playlists and streaming platforms worldwide. He was quickly dropped by his booking agent and suspended from his record label. After apologizing and , he was later reinstated to his longtime record label, Big Loud, as well as put back on Country radio.
Recently, Wallen, who is currently in the midst of his headlining Dangerous arena tour, donated $500,000 to the Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC) and other Black-led or owned organizations.
Wallen’s performance at the 2022 Billboard Music Awards will mark his return to the award show circuit after several award shows did not allow the “Wasted On You” singer to attend or participate in their events.
Billboard previously revealed their decision for allowing Wallen to participate.
“We oppose discrimination, harassment, or racism of any kind,” MRC said in a statement to Billboard. “We believe in treating everyone with dignity and respect. After a thorough review and robust discussions internally and with the artist’s team, in which we found a demonstrated and ongoing commitment to meaningful work and outreach, we extended an invitation to participate in this year’s show.”
“Born out of our racial equity work at MRC, a team led by diverse colleagues created an internal process to review if our content aligns with our stated diversity, equity, and inclusion objectives. We ran this process last year with regard to Mr. Wallen, and again this year which resulted in a different decision,” the memo said. But the team’s recent research on the artist “found that there were meaningful and significant efforts toward understanding and redemption, as well as an ongoing commitment to additional work.”
Meanwhile, Scott has been out of the spotlight and will make his first public concert appearance since 10 people were trampled to death at his annual Astroworld Festival in Houston, Texas, on November 5.
Since the tragedy occured in November of 2021, Scott and the festival promoters were hit with over 100 lawsuits.
In addition to Wallen and Scott, the 2022 Billboard Music Awards will feature performances from Ed Sheeran, Silk Sonic, Elle King, Miranda Lambert, Mary J. Blige, Dan + Shay, Machine Gun Kelly, among many others.
Anthony Anderson, Anitta, Chloe Bailey, Michael Bublé, Dove Cameron, Dixie D’Amelio, DJ Khaled, Giveon, Tiffany Haddish, Heidi Klum, Liza Koshy, Pusha T, Teyana Taylor will also appear during the broadcast as presenters.
The 2022 BBMAs will air live from Las Vegas’ MGM Garden Grand Arena on Sunday, May 15, at 8/7c on NBC.
