Sam Smith missed the BET awards because he thought he was ‘too white’ to win
Sam Smith didnāt show up to accept a BET Award in person last night ā after assuming he would lose ābecause heās whiteā.
The openly gay Leave Your Lover singer was the surprise winner of the Best New Artist award at the event, which is hosted by the Black Entertainment Television network and celebrates black entertainment artists.
Smith was the only white artist nominated in the category, but surprisingly fought off competition from Bobby Shmurda, Dej Loaf, Fetty Wap, Rae Sremmurd, Tinashe to win the award.
However, embarrassingly Smith wasnāt around to pick it up in person ā because he had assumed he had no chance of winning at the event.
āBlack-ishā star Anthony Anderson, who accepted the award on Smithās behalf, joked that he wasnāt at the event because he was too white to win.
He said: āSam Smith isnāt here tonight because heās white, and he didnāt think he would win at the BET Awards.
āHe didnāt think he could win. But we showed him that we love him, too.ā
He joked: āThis award is going to Stay With Me, for you not showing up to BET! Although this trophy is really yours, itās going to Stay With Me.ā
āSam Smith, congratulations brother on your much deserved awardā¦ you can come by my house next week and pick it up, but call first because black folk donāt just show up at other peopleās houses like that!ā
The singer tweeted his thanks after hearing he had in fact won.
Itās the latest award for the star, who has picked up four Grammys, three Billboard awards and two BRITs in the past few months.
He gave a āLove Actuallyā-style silent awards speech at the Billboard awards last month, holding up signs with his speech on as he had just undergone vocal surgery.
However, after cancelling a string of appearances across several months, the singer has since recovered his voice and is back on tour.
