Kanye West, Phylicia Rashad and Usher among those to receive BET Honors

The Associated Press
December 9, 2014 at 9:22PM
FILE - In this Oct. 22, 2013 file photo, recording artist Kanye West speaks onstage during the 17th Annual Hollywood Film Awards Gala at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. The rapper-producer has postponed his May tour of Australia so he can concentrate on new music. West announced Tuesday, April 1, 2014, that he'll postpone seven dates in five cities scheduled for May 2-11 dates to Sept. 5-15 because of "unexpected timing requirements" to finish his new album, expected to be rele
Kanye West (Colleen Kelly — ASSOCIATED PRESS - Frank Micelo/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

NEW YORK — Someone other than Kanye West is confirming his visionary status.

The superstar rapper will receive the Visionary Award next month at the BET Honors. West — who has called himself a visionary and more — will be one of five luminaries honored at the eighth annual event hosted by Wayne Brady.

Usher will receive the Musical Arts Award for his two-decade career; Phylicia Rashad will receive the Theatrical Arts Award. Johnnetta Betsch Cole, director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African Art and former president of Spelman College, will receive the Education Award. Microsoft Chairman John W. Thompson will receive the Technology and Business Award.

The BET Honors will be taped Jan. 24 in Washington and will air Feb. 23. Ticket sales will benefit the National CARES Mentoring Program.

Past honorees include Maya Angelou and Whitney Houston.

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The "winners" have all been Turkeys, no matter the honor's name.

In this photo taken Monday, March 6, 2017, in San Francisco, released confidential files by The University of California of a sexual misconduct case, like this one against UC Santa Cruz Latin Studies professor Hector Perla is shown. Perla was accused of raping a student during a wine-tasting outing in June 2015. Some of the files are so heavily redacted that on many pages no words are visible. Perla is one of 113 UC employees found to have violated the system's sexual misconduct policies in rece