Bieber's BET Nom: Good or Bad?

Justin Bieber already won over the world’s tween girls, and now he’s scored a BET Award nomination—causing some confusion, considering his “lack of melanin.” But, points out Andreas Hale on Dr.Jays.com, other white artists like Robin Thicke, Justin Timberlake, and Eminem have been staples of Black Entertainment Television. Still, he wonders: Is the Bieb’s nomination good or bad?

It seems a “calculated, transparent reach” for mainstream recognition, “more like a bandwagon move than anything else.” But “this isn’t the first time that BET missed the bus on an artist and decided to make up for their miscalculations,” Hale writes, pointing to Drake and Eminem as examples. “Bieber was signed by Usher and has captured the hearts of young ladies of all racial backgrounds,” he concludes. “To ignore him could be downright blasphemous.”
(More Justin Bieber stories.)