The BET Awards '10 Welcomes Grammy(R) Award-Winning Artist Kanye West to the Stage in His First Awards Show Performance Since 2009

NEW YORK, June 9 -- The 10 year celebration of the BET Awards '10 is promising to be bigger and better than ever. Each year The BET Awards continuously delivers memorable performances and this year is no different. Guaranteed to be the biggest night in television, BET is proud to announce and welcome Kanye West to the stage; making this his first major awards show appearance since his appearance on the 2009 MTV VMAs. While West received much backlash and criticism following the VMAs, BET decided to give the multifaceted performer a spot in music history during its 10 year anniversary special. Viewers can anticipate a dynamic comeback performance. Newly added performances also include Ludacris, DJ Khaled, Rick Ross, Drake and many more.

Also, slated to perform are T.I., Diddy-Dirty Money, Nicki Minaj, and Trey Songz. The BET Awards '10 will be hosted by Queen Latifah and some presenters confirmed are Taraji P. Henson, and Mike Epps, as well as this year's Humanitarian Award will be given to John Legend.

The BET Awards '10 airs live, Sunday, June 27th 8:00 PM*, from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, CA. Don't miss it!

Stay tuned for more performances and presenter updates for this year's BET Awards by logging on to www.bet.com.

*all times ET/PT

About BET Networks

BET Networks, a division of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), is the nation's leading provider of quality entertainment, music, news and public affairs television programming for the African-American audience. The primary BET channel reaches more than 90 million households and can be seen in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom and sub-Saharan Africa. BET is the dominant African-American consumer brand with a diverse group of business extensions: BET.com, a leading Internet destination for Black entertainment, music, culture, and news; CENTRIC, a 24-hour entertainment network targeting the 25- to 54-year-old African-American audience; BET Digital Networks - BET Gospel and BET Hip Hop, attractive alternatives for cutting-edge entertainment tastes; BET Home Entertainment, a collection of BET-branded offerings for the home environment including DVDs and video-on-demand; BET Event Productions, a full-scale event management and production company with festivals and live events spanning the globe; BET Mobile, which provides ringtones, games and video content for wireless devices; and BET International, which operates BET in the United Kingdom, Middle East & Africa and oversees the extension of BET network programming for global distribution.