Vice President Kamala Harris was absolutely roasted over a cringe-worthy segment she recorded for Sunday night’s BET Awards.
Critics savaged her attempt to connect with the audience by referencing rapper Kendrick Lamar’s diss track aimed at fellow artist Drake, all while pushing the importance of voting.
In the segment, which was recorded ahead of the show, Harris took a video call from actress Taraji P. Henson, the event’s host this year.
In the video, Henson expressed her worries about the upcoming election, highlighting women’s reproductive rights and the Supreme Court as key issues, noting that Americans’ “basic freedoms are being tested.”
Vice President Kamala Harris for the #BETAwards: “The majority of us believe in freedom and equality, but these extremists, as they say, they not like us.” pic.twitter.com/wE0hDB3XId
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) July 1, 2024
When Henson asked what Harris was hearing on the campaign trail, Harris replied, “Let me tell you, you’re right Taraji, there is so much at stake in the moment.”
She continued, “The majority of us believe in freedom and equality, but these extremists, as they say, they’re ‘not like us,'” to which Henson shot back, “They not.”
Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” is a diss track released in May during a rap battle with Drake, dominating the hip-hop world for weeks and hitting No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was the latest battle in a feud the pair have been engaged in since 2013.
Taraji P. Henson with a skit of Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” at the #BETAwards 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/DimZaFPsYg
— XXL Magazine (@XXL) July 1, 2024
Henson, who famously starred on Fox’s “Empire,” opened the awards ceremony by performing a parody of the song.
In their video, Harris rattled off threats voters face in November, though she refused to actually invoke the name of former President Donald Trump or the GOP.
As Biden prepares, potentially, to drop out, the Trump team turns their targets to Kamala Harris, brilliant orator, with an ad just featuring her brilliant speeches: pic.twitter.com/ADJCaJ9aKU
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) June 30, 2024
“There’s a full attack on our fundamental freedoms,” Harris said stated dramatically.
“The freedom to vote, the freedom to love who you love, the freedom to be safe from gun violence, the freedom for a woman to make decisions about her own body not having her government tell her what to do,” she added.
When Henson asked what could be done about the “attack,” Harris pointed out that being a registered voter was pivotal to protecting our freedoms.
Henson told Harris that she was texting everyone she knows to point them towards Vote.Org to get them were registered before November 5.
Critics took to X, formerly Twitter to react to the obviously scripted conversation.
“I just KNOW I did not hear Kamala Harris say she was out here in these streets,” one viewer reacted. “WHO the hell wrote this script?!?!”
“I ain’t seen Kamala Harris in 4 years and she got the AUDACITYYYYY to be on the BET awards,” another wrote.
“Kamala Harris just said ‘out here in these streets’ and ‘they not like us.’ Russia, please just nuke us now,” someone else lamented.
“She gonna be so mad when they nominate literally anyone else after Biden gives up the nom,” another quipped.
“Kamala Harris on the BET awards talking about all of America’s problems…like girl solve them???” one person tweeted.
After Thursday’s disastrous debate, Harris could potentially be called on to “solve” the country’s problem as Biden’s replacement if he decides to step aside, or is ousted by Democrats against his will.
While it’s unclear who would be tapped to fill Biden’s role, Harris who is already on the ticket, would be the easiest swap the party could make.
But according to RealClearPolling, the less-than-likable Vice President has a worse shot at the White House than Biden does.
Polling shows Trump leading Harris by 6.6 percentage points, with Trump at 49.3 percent support compared to Harris’s 42.7 percent.
In contrast, Trump leads Biden by nearly two points, with Trump at 46.8 percent and Biden at 44.9 percent.
Harris proved herself as a ride-or-die for Biden after the debate, telling CNN’s Anderson Cooper that while Biden had a “slow start,” he had a “strong finish.”
“What we saw tonight was the president making a very clear contrast with Donald Trump on all the issues that matter to the American people,” she commented.
“Yes, there was a slow start, but it was a strong finish,” Harris noted. “What became very clear over the course of the night is that Joe Biden is fighting on behalf of the American people on substance, on policy, on performance.”
Cooper was not swayed and said that Biden’s train wreck of a performance was “clearly disappointing” to supporters.
Harris countered that people can disagree on style, but the election must focus on “substance.”
Cooper didn’t bow down to the politician and pointed out that Biden was a “very different person on the stage” in 2020.
“I get the point you’re making about a 1 1/2-hour debate tonight,” Harris shot back testily.
“I’m talking about 3 1/2 years of performance in work that has been historic,” she said.
Harris lauded the president for his accomplishments while in office and claimed that he is so knowledgeable that world leaders “often ask for his advice.
“I’m not going to spend all night with you talking about the last 90 minutes when I’ve been watching the last three and a half years of performance,” she repeated.