--- description: Grey's Anatomy actor Jesse Williams was awarded BET's Humanitarian Award on Sunday night. He delivered a speech about Black Lives Matter title: Read The Full Transcript of Jesse Williams's BET Speech image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta6a53626b1e49430/698899812dce01335b9e99f1/jesse-williams-bet-transcript.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [awards](/tag/awards/) ## awards Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Read the Full Transcript of Jesse Williams’ Powerful Speech on Race at the BET Awards by [Megan Lasher](/author/megan-lasher/) ## Megan Lasher Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 27, 2016 2:26 PM CUT  Honoree Jesse Williams accepts the Humanitarian Award onstage during the 2016 BET Awards at the Microsoft Theater on June 26, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. Honoree Jesse Williams accepts the Humanitarian Award onstage during the 2016 BET Awards at the Microsoft Theater on June 26, 2016 in Los Angeles, California.Kevin Winter/BET—Getty Images for BET by [Megan Lasher](/author/megan-lasher/) ## Megan Lasher Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 27, 2016 2:26 PM CUT _Grey’s Anatomy_ actor Jesse Williams was awarded [BET’s Humanitarian Award](http://time.com/4383413/jesse-williams-bet-speech/ "undefined") on Sunday night. The outspoken human rights activist—who executive produced the recent documentary, [_Stay Woke: The Black Lives Matter Movement_](http://www.bet.com/shows/stay-woke-the-movement-for-black-lives-matter/news/stay-woke-the-movement-for-black-lives-matter-about.html "undefined")— delivered a powerful and political speech about the cause he’s worked so hard on. Referencing recent victims of police brutality, Williams discussed the violence against black people and the struggles they’ve faced throughout history: “There has been no war that we have not fought and died on the front lines of. There has been no job we haven’t done. There is no tax they haven’t leveed against us,” he said. The speech received a standing ovation by the audience, who [went on to praise Williams on Twitter](http://time.com/4383413/jesse-williams-bet-speech/ "undefined"). A transcript of it has been published in multiple places, including [_The Washington Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2016/06/27/jesse-williams-gave-one-of-the-most-memorable-speeches-in-award-show-history-full-transcript/ "undefined")and [_Bustle._](http://www.bustle.com/articles/169240-transcript-of-jesse-williams-bet-awards-speech-will-leave-you-with-chills "undefined")Below, [Genius](http://genius.com/Jesse-williams-2016-bet-humanitarian-award-speech-annotated "undefined")‘s account of the speech: --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4383516/jesse-williams-bet-speech-transcript/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4383516/jesse-williams-bet-speech-transcript/"},"headline":"Read the Full Transcript of Jesse Williams’ Powerful Speech on Race at the BET Awards","datePublished":"2016-06-27T14:26:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T09:50:20.974Z","description":"\"Just because we're magic doesn't mean we're not real\"","url":"https://time.com/4383516/jesse-williams-bet-speech-transcript/","keywords":["awards","Television","celebrities","black lives matter"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta6a53626b1e49430/698899812dce01335b9e99f1/jesse-williams-bet-transcript.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan Lasher","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-lasher/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta6a53626b1e49430/698899812dce01335b9e99f1/jesse-williams-bet-transcript.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2016 BET Awards - Show","caption":"Honoree Jesse Williams accepts the Humanitarian Award onstage during the 2016 BET Awards at the Microsoft Theater on June 26, 2016 in Los Angeles, California.","creditText":"Kevin Winter/BET—Getty Images for BET","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/awards/","name":"awards"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4383516/jesse-williams-bet-speech-transcript/","name":"Read the Full Transcript of Jesse Williams’ Powerful Speech on Race at the BET Awards"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Justin Timberlake Receives Twitter Backlash Following BET Awards","description":"Users accuse him of hypocrisy and cultural appropriation.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Ycyhskfo/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-06-27T18:52:24.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Ycyhskfo.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4383516/jesse-williams-bet-speech-transcript/","duration":"PT1M2S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4383516/jesse-williams-bet-speech-transcript/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```