Busta Rhymes took the stage on the MTV VMAs on Sunday to just accept the inaugural Rock the Bells Visionary Award and memorialized Ananda Lewis— regardless of the awards ceremony surprisingly paying the late TV legend they employed, mud.
Throughout his acceptance speech, the rapper, 53, took the time to honor the late MTV VJ who died of breast most cancers in June.
“Y’all know I often do these lengthy speeches, I’m not gonna do one immediately. However subsequent time y’all take 35 years to provide me one in every of these, y’all gonna let me speak so long as I need!” he started his speech, emphasizing that that is his first time ever receiving a VMA.
The hip-hop legend went on to thank all the essential individuals in his life, together with his mother and father and youngsters, earlier than paying tribute to Lewis, who died at age 52.
“I need to thank — and I feel all of us have to acknowledge — the unimaginable lady that liked us very a lot after we got here to MTV throughout the ’90s. An unimaginable lady that liked me and she or he liked us. She liked the tradition; she lifted us up,” Busta stated. “I like her very a lot. I miss her very a lot. The late, nice, unimaginable royal empress Ananda Lewis. I need to massive up her mom, her father, her sister Lakshmi.”
The rapper concluded, “The blessings don’t cease, so we don’t cease, child.”
Lewis first joined MTV in 1997, internet hosting each Complete Request Dwell and Sizzling Zone throughout her time at MTV. She left the music channel in 2010 to host her personal present, The Ananda Lewis Present. She introduced her most cancers analysis in 2020, and 4 years later, she revealed that the most cancers had metastasized and was stage IV earlier than passing away earlier this yr.
Whereas followers have been comfortable to see Busta Rhymes give Lewis her flowers, his point out of the late it woman made many viewers all of the extra upset that the present didn’t give her an entire tribute. Having contributed to a lot of MTV’s golden age, the truth that the awards present didn’t point out Lewis in any respect was disappointing, which many followers identified on social media.
R.I.P., Ananda Lewis.
