Giveon's 2022 BET Awards Performance Was Faced With Technical Difficulties

The singer later joked about the occurrence, claiming he was “sabotaged.”

Last night (June 26), the 2022 BET Awards took place at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. The show featured performances from Lizzo, Jack Harlow, Doechii, Diddy, and more, and even saw a surprise appearance from a fully masked Kanye West who was tasked with presenting Diddy with the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award.

Leon Bennett/Getty Images

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An award show isn’t complete without at least one mishap though, and last night’s victim was Giveon. The singer led a 4-minute performance, singing a shortened version of hit song “Heartbreak Anniversary,” also including parts of “For Tonight” and “Lie Again,” from his latest album titled Give or Take which was released last Friday (June 24).

His performance began well enough, but around 20 seconds in, the singer seemingly began to experience technical difficulties and started to sing off-key. He visibly nudged his earpiece and had to switch his microphone before continuing with the performance.

Afterward, Giveon sought to downplay the issue and jokingly tweeted, “Not @BET sabotaging my mic [six laughing emojis]…… @LilNasX I get it!!!!” Giveon’s message towards the “INDUSTRY BABY” artist was in reference to Lil Nas’ grievances with BET due to his lack of nominations and general inclusion.

Twitter users were quick to make jokes in response to Giveon’s tweet although almost no one believed his claim of sabotage. One user wrote the R&B star, “It wasn’t the microphone. It was your vocals.” Another added, “oh baby the mic was on. the vocals wasn’t. and that’s okay.”

Someone else still referenced previous performers and wrote, “So, why was the microphone for @ChloeBailey functioning properly, then? Also, @MariahCarey and @Latto had microphones that were functioning properly, as well.”

Some users were quick to compare Giveon’s performance to Ray J at last week’s Verzuz battle, during which he failed to hit a note and was subsequently put on blast on Twitter.

Check out Twitter’s reaction to the fiasco below.