Turns out, the inclusivity seen at the opening of the BET Soul Train Awards has a bit of a backstory behind is.
Pose start MJ Rodriguez stunned the crowd during the show when she popped out serving us all kinds of looks and poses during the opening act's ballroom theme accompanied by hits from Janet Jackson.
Host Tisha Campbell sat down on The Real Wednesday morning to recap the night.
The actress said co-host Tichina Arnold and herself wanted to continue their mission from last year of being inclusive during the award show.
However, the 51-year-old said they fought "hard" to get Rodriguez included in the opening act.
Here’s a video of Tisha Campbell on “The Real” yesterday morning, discussing the important of inclusion, and having Mj Rodriguez be a part of the show pic.twitter.com/txz0ylLe6i
— Tarig. (@1Tarig) November 20, 2019
While Campbell left out the details of what their fight included and exactly who they were up against, her emphasis made it clear that it surely wasn't an easy battle.
Shortly after Cambell spilled the tea on The Real, BET posted a tweet about their dedication to inclusivity with their new documentary BET Social Presents: Ballroom: A Safe Space.
It wasn't made clear if their tweet was an indirect response to the actress' comments or just an odd coincidence.
Regardless, some folks on Twitter certainly played their hand at letting the network know they could smell their bulls**t from a mile away.
Are y’all doing this cause Tisha Campbell said she had to fight to get MJ Rodriguez to be included in the Soul Train Awards? Cause we know y’all are homophobic still. https://t.co/anlLCEqTPt
— Hezeliah Walker (@HeyBrandito) November 21, 2019
Tichina Arnold and Tisha Campbell literally had to fight for MJ Rodriguez to be in the opening act of the Soul Train Awards, but sure, y’all are queer af https://t.co/QJL6SBAsR8
— taylor (@filmmakerflying) November 21, 2019
Another Twitter user reminded us that none of the members from the TV series Pose were invited to the BET Awards.
Tichina Arnold and Tisha Campbell literally had to fight for MJ Rodriguez to be in the opening act of the Soul Train Awards, but sure, y’all are queer af https://t.co/QJL6SBAsR8
— taylor (@filmmakerflying) November 21, 2019
Rodriguez's costar on Pose, Angelica Ross, took to Twitter back in September to let BET know that "Black trans girls rock," too, after questioning if any members of the LGBTQ community were invited to the Black Girls Rock Awards.
According to her tweet, 18 Black trans women had been killed at the time of the show, which went unmentioned during the segment dedicated to honoring the lives of those who passed away.
According to Out, BET's series Queer as F**k will premiere on Tuesday with Ballroom: A Safe Space, a three-part documentary.