On June 2, 2026, BET President Louis Carr announced the network's first-ever Board of Advisors. The six-member panel reads like a Black excellence dream team: Queen Latifah, LL COOL J, founder Bob Johnson, NFL executive Troy Vincent, Lazard president Raymond J. McGuire, and Paramount Skydance chairman George Cheeks. The press release promised the group would serve as a "strategic and cultural sounding board" to guide BET's future evolution.

But here is what the carefully crafted announcement did not say: nothing has changed about who owns BET. Not a single share. Not a single vote. Not a single dollar of equity. And absolutely nothing has changed about who controls the network's parent company — or the parent company's deepening political alignment with Donald Trump.

The distinction matters. Unlike a traditional Board of Directors, an advisory board holds absolutely no legal authority over the company. They cannot vote on executive leadership, control budgets, approve mergers, or — crucially — reverse the cancellation of the Soul Train Awards and BET Hip Hop Awards, both of which remain indefinitely suspended under Paramount Skydance's ownership.

The PR Offensive That Changes Nothing

The timing of the announcement is not coincidental. Just 15 days earlier, on May 18, 2026, Emerald Book published our investigation exposing how BET became 0% Black-owned under its new corporate parent. The report detailed how Paramount Skydance — whose billionaire leadership maintains deep ties to the Trump administration and rolling back DEI initiatives — bought out Tyler Perry's minority stake in BET+ and folded the standalone streaming service into Paramount+.

• Zero ownership transferred: The advisory board members hold no equity, shares, or direct ownership in BET or its parent company.
• No authority over canceled events: The Soul Train Awards and BET Hip Hop Awards remain canceled. The board cannot reinstate them.
• Non-binding guidance only: BET leadership is under zero obligation to implement any advice from this group.
• Trump alignment unchanged: The parent company's political maneuvers — including millions paid to Trump — remain intact.

The Trump-Aligned Parent Company Pulling the Strings

While BET promotes a public image of celebrating Black culture, the corporate billionaires making the actual decisions have reshaped the network to appease the Trump administration. The network's political alignment stems directly from its parent company, Paramount Skydance, which is controlled by David Ellison and his multibillionaire father, Larry Ellison. Their ties to Trump are extensive and well-documented.

To secure regulatory approval from the federal government for the Skydance-Paramount merger, the company paid a massive $16 million settlement to Donald Trump to resolve a lawsuit regarding a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris. Additionally, Trump publicly claimed he has an agreement with Skydance under which the company will contribute $20 million in advertising and programming that directly promotes political causes he favors. Larry Ellison has emerged as a prominent ally of Donald Trump, even appearing alongside him at the White House to launch multi-billion dollar joint tech ventures.

This corporate alignment is the direct reason why BET's programming has changed. As part of appealing to Trump and conservative federal regulators, Skydance committed to dismantling Corporate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives across its networks. The cancellation of the BET Hip Hop Awards and the Soul Train Awards was not an accident — it was part of a systematic rollback of specialized Black cultural programming designed to align the network with its new corporate, right-wing directives. By putting Queen Latifah and LL COOL J on an advisory board, Skydance is trying to hide the fact that a company heavily tied to the Trump administration now dictates the future of BET.

A Shield for the BET Awards

The June 2 announcement buys the network nearly four weeks to change the public conversation before the June 28 ceremony. By aligning with trusted icons like Queen Latifah and LL COOL J, BET signals to the industry — and to skittish advertisers — that the network still has the backing of Hollywood royalty.

But the underlying numbers haven't changed. The network's awards shows suffered a 50% drop in key demographics prior to the cancellations. The standalone BET+ app is being shut down entirely. And the economic boycott sparked by our May 18 report remains active, as does the fan-driven awards boycott launched just 72 hours after our report dropped, when NBA YoungBoy was completely snubbed from the nomination list.

Nothing Has Changed — And That's the Point

The announcement of the advisory board is purely an optical distraction. The cold, hard realities exposed by the media backlash remain entirely identical to how they were before the press release went live: Paramount Skydance retains 100% of the financial equity and corporate decision-making power over the network. The Soul Train Awards and BET Hip Hop Awards remain suspended indefinitely. The parent company's political maneuvers — including the historic $16 million settlement with Donald Trump — remain unchanged. And the billionaire leadership structure controlling the network continues its directive to dismantle internal diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

The board exists strictly to put a famous, trustworthy face on a corporate infrastructure that has fundamentally shifted away from its original cultural mission. Putting Queen Latifah on a powerless advisory board does not bring back the Soul Train Awards. It does not restore Black ownership. It does not sever the network's ties to Trump. And it does not fool the community that built BET into a cultural institution in the first place. The question now is whether Black viewers will tune in on June 28 — or whether they will finally turn the channel for good.