Despite a difficult past year marked with extensive online harassment and cyberattacks, comedian Leslie Jones of “SNL” and “Ghostbusters” manages to stay hilarious and positive through it all — and now she’ll get to bring those good vibes to an award show stage.
On Wednesday night, BET announced that the comedian would be hosting its annual awards this June. The hosting gig is Jones’ first time helming a major award show.
Per NBC, Jones said of the news, “I am so excited to be hosting The BET Awards this year. BET was the first network and place where I was on TV — I am looking to turn this whole experience into a joyful homecoming.”
She’ll be following in the footsteps of Tracee Ellis Ross and Anthony Anderson, who hosted the BET Awards in 2016. This year, big names like Beyoncé, Bruno Mars and Chance the Rapper top the nominations list.
Will Jones delve into politics as part of her hosting gig? While her day job at “SNL” involves regular political parody, and award shows certainly haven’t been safe from the ever-reaching hand of Donald Trump, Jones told People she’s not planning to focus on that.
“I am tired of everybody being sad and angry,” Jones said. “I want people to just downright laugh. You can’t do the event without touching on certain things, but I’m trying to make it all funny. It’s really just about pulling the elephants out of the room and, actually, I’ll make the elephant in the room laugh about it. So my goal for this show is to have a big ol’ nice barbecue, family reunion feel. I just want everyone cracking up.”
Sounds perfect to us.
The BET Awards air June 25 at 8 p.m. ET.
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