Golden Globe winner and Grammy nominee Teyana Taylor will be honored as Icon of the Year at the 2026 BET Awards.
Taylor will receive the special award during the BET Awards broadcast on Sunday, June 28. The show, broadcast live from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, will be hosted by Druski.
The BET Awards’ “Icon of the Year” award is given to a culture-defining artist, a press release explains, someone whose impact is not measured in years but in the undeniable weight they carry everywhere, in every conversation and in every corner of the culture they touch.
In recent years, Harlem-born Taylor has embodied this ideal, evolving from multi-platinum singer-songwriter to award-winning actress, as well as realizing her vision as a director, producer, choreographer and style icon. In the last five years alone, Taylor has won a Critics’ Choice Award for the Sundance classic “A Thousand and One”, won the Golden Globe for best supporting actress and received an Oscar nomination for Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another”; his visual album “Escape Room” was nominated for a Grammy for best R&B album. She also starred alongside Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in Netflix’s action thriller “The Rip” and was part of the stellar cast of Ryan Murphy’s “All’s Fair” for Hulu.
“Teyana Taylor is the embodiment of what it means to be an icon today,” said Connie Orlando, executive vice president of specials, music programming and music strategy at BET. “She doesn’t ask for a seat at the table; she builds the table, decorates the room, and sets the tone for everyone who enters. Her influence is across culture, and it’s an honor to celebrate everything she represents on Culture’s Biggest Night.”
Additional honorees, artists, presenters and special guests for this year’s BET Awards will be announced in the coming weeks.
