Justin Timberlake has been nominated 8 times for a BET Award and 6 times for an NAACP Image Award. Four of his BET Award nominations are for collaborations with Jay Z, a black American rapper and entrepreneur. Additionally, three of his NAACP Image Award nominations are for collaborations with Jay Z, Michael Jackson, and Pharrell Williams (all three of which are black musicians). Some of the categories in which he was nominated by himself include Best New Artist, Best R&B Male Artist, Outstanding Male Artist, Outstanding Album, and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture (The Social Network).
In 2010, Sandra Bullock was nominated for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture for her role in The Blind Side. The film tells the true story of Michael Oher, a homeless teen taken in by a wealthy family. Leigh Anne Tuohy, the family matriarch, helps Michael overcome his learning struggles and excel at football, paving the way for a bright future in the NFL. However, critics of the film pointed to the tired "white savior" tropes of the movie in their criticism. Currently, Michael Oher has an ongoing legal battle with the Tuohy family. He claims that the Tuohys misrepresented their relationship and profited from his story without fairly compensating him, as well as tricked him into a conservatorship.
Spielberg may be a surprising name to receive an NAACP Image Award; however, the director took home a special honor in 2000 by being presented with the NAACP Image Awards Vanguard Award. The organization said in its presentation that the award was for Spielberg's "pioneering courage to promote social justice through creative endeavors." He directed movies like The Color Purple, Amistad, and West Side Story.
Eminem is the most-nominated white musician in BET history. He has 5 BET Award Nominations and 12 BET Hip Hop Award nominations. In 2010, Eminem won Lyricist of the Year. So far he is the only white musician to win this award. Eminem was also nominated in 2011 for an NAACP Image Award for Best Collaboration with the song "Love the Way You Lie" that featured Rihanna.
Not only has Sam been nominated for a BET Award, but Smith also won one! Smith remains the only white artist to win Best New Artist at the BET Awards. The win in 2015 beat out fellow nominees Fetty Wap, Tinashe, Bobby Shmurda, Dej Loaf, and Rae Sremmurd. The surprising win became a topic of conversation again in 2024 when Donald Glover jokingly prodded the voting academy that he and Smith had the same number of BET Awards (one apiece).
In 2012, Emma Stone was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture. This was for her role in the movie The Help. The plot takes place in 1960s Mississippi. Stone plays an aspiring writer, Skeeter Phelan, who interviews Black maids about their experiences raising white children, defying social norms and giving voice to their hidden stories during the Civil Rights Movement. Her fellow nominees that year were Viola Davis (who won the award for the same film), Paula Patton, Adepero Oduye, and Zoe Saldana.
Incredibly, Justin Bieber has 3 BET Award nominations (with one win) and also an NAACP Image Awards win. It is worth noting that both wins are for Best Collaboration and Outstanding International Song for the 2022 single "Essence (Remix)." This remix of the original song by Wizkid featured guest vocals from Bieber and Tems. Both Wizkid and Tems are Black musicians. Bieber does have two solo BET Award nominations, though. Both came in 2010 for Best New Artist and Fandemonium Award.
Perhaps one of the most surprising names on the list, George Lucas was the recipient of an NAACP Image Award Vanguard Award in 2012. The award is presented for an individual's entire body of work but the organization singled out the film Red Tails in particular. The historical war film traces the history of the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of Black USAAF servicemembers who participated in WWII. The film was produced by Lucasfilm Ltd., a film and TV production company founded by George Lucas.
Robin Thicke has been nominated for 4 BET Awards as well as 4 NAACP Image Awards, including one win. He was nominated individually for Outstanding Album and Outstanding Male Artist at the NAACP Image Awards. His win was shared with T.I. and Pharrell Williams (both Black musicians) when they received Outstanding Duo, Group or Collaboration for their song "Blurred Lines." Three of Thicke's BET Award nominations were solo nods, for Best R&B Artist, Viewer's Choice, and Centric Award.
Bryce Dallas Howard received an NAACP Image Award nomination in 2012 for Outstanding Supporting Actress in The Help. The plot takes place in 1960s Mississippi. In the film, Bryce Dallas Howard portrays Hilly Holbrook, a wealthy socialite who embodies racist prejudice against her Black domestic help, clashing with her friend Skeeter (played by Emma Stone) who seeks to expose the injustices. Critics have charged that the nominating committee sometimes hopes to lure "big-name" movie stars to attend the ceremony by nominating non-Black actors—the hope being that more eyeballs are then on the ceremony.
Iggy Azalea has twice been nominated for BET Awards. Both nominations were for Best Female Hip-Hop Artist, in both 2014 and 2015. While she did not win either time, her fellow nominees included Nicki Minaj, Angel Haze, Charli Baltimore, and Eve. Throughout her career, Azalea has had multiple critics accuse her of cultural appropriation because of her white Australian background. In particular, the discrepancy between her speaking voice and her rapping affect was noted as somewhat controversial.
In 2014, French electronic duo Daft Punk were nominated for Best Group at the BET Awards. Fellow nominees Macklemore & Ryan Lewis were also nominated the same year. That led many critics of the BET Awards to raise their eyebrows at the number of white nominees. Daft Punk in particular was an interesting choice as electronic music doesn't have particularly deep roots in the Black community. However, their collaboration with Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers (both Black musicians) and the success of the single "Get Lucky" were seen as the main drivers of the nomination. Young Money ended up winning the award that year.
