Returning as host, comedian/actor and three-time Image Award winner Deon Cole helmed the 57th annual NAACP Image Awards at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium on Friday (Feb. 28). The tightly paced, two-hour ceremony featured no musical performances. Cole, however, skillfully balanced both a topical and cultural tone while keeping the proceedings lively, especially during his opening monologue.

“Welcome to the NAACP Trump Image Awards,” Cole deadpanned to the audience’s high-spirited laughter. “We had to do that. Yes, he wants his name on everything. I apologize. If we didn’t do that, we’d go to commercial and come back in an episode of Matlock.”

After addressing the Epstein files, Cole then implored show officials to “charge me for this curse word” used to spotlight another topical subject during which he was bleeped out. But it wasn’t hard to read his lips: “F—k ICE.” Greeted again by hearty applause, and shoutouts as well as a standing ovation, Cole added, “I don’t want to see no ICE ever again. When I looked at the guest list, I took off Ice Cube, Iced Tea, Ice Spice. I don’t want no ice cream. I don’t want no ice in my drink…”

Taking the audience to church next, Cole led a prayer on behalf of several entertainers. Among those he blessed were Teyana Taylor (“Keep her single and away from 6’3” green-eyed men with muscles”), 50 Cent (“But that pettiness begins our day going fast at work, don’t it?”) and Nicki Minaj (“She’s been going through a lot lately. She hasn’t been herself. Lord, I believe whatever’s in her ass is affecting her brain”).

Lastly, Cole addressed the recent British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards controversy that erupted when the N-word was shouted out by John Davidson, who suffers from Tourette syndrome, while Sinners stars Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were presenting an award at that ceremony (Feb. 22). BAFTA, the BBC and Davidson (also a Tourette activist whose life inspired the 2025 film I Swear) subsequently apologized.

“Before we go, Lord,” concluded Cole, “if there are any white men out here in the audience with Tourette’s, I advise you to tell them that they better read the room tonight. Lord, it might not go the way they think. Whatever medicine they’re on, they better double up on it. Lord, all these things we ask in Jesus’ name … let the church say amen.”

Moving ahead to the evening’s first award presentation, Cole brought everything full circle. “Let’s have a good time here celebrating everybody’s accomplishments … and we’re going to celebrate being together. Make some noise, y’all. Ain’t nobody better than the next person.”

Among other Image Awards highlights was Samuel L. Jackson’s stirring tribute to late civil rights icon Rev. Jesse Jackson. Members of the Jackson family were also in attendance.

Pioneering hip-hop group Salt-N-Pepa was inducted into the NAACP Image Awards Hall of Fame during the organization’s 57th annual ceremony at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium on Saturday evening (Feb. 28).

Cheryl “Salt” James, Sandra “Pepa” Denton and Deidra “DJ Spinderella” Roper — the first female rap group to achieve platinum certification and win a Grammy Award — were presented with their award by fellow rap trailblazer MC Lyte.

“I’m a longtime friend with the group, and I came up with them,” Lyte said. “They influenced me and so many others in our careers. They showed all of us that we could stand toe to toe with any roughneck.”

Speaking first after the group received their statuettes following a standing ovation, Salt eschewed a planned acceptance speech (“I don’t have my glasses.”) She opted instead to rap — much to the star-filled audience’s head-nodding delight — and proved she hasn’t lost her signature flow.

“Here’s to my kings and my queens,” Salt began. “Hip-hop and rap fiends. I ain’t talking pipes. I’m talking about rap dreams. I can’t breathe. All I see is hands and white knees. 2025 came and went like lightning. Time moving way too fast. It’s frightening. Let’s move like Spike Lee and do the right thing. They smile in your face while putting a knife in. Backstabbers. Can’t stand them … Let there be voices. Sing, kiss the ring. Here’s to my melanin kings; they exchange strange fruit for yellow tape and chalk lines. How many murders? How many of us lost lives? How many lies, how many cries, how many rallies? Yea, though I walk through the valley on that rap tip like catfish on grits, like ’80s hip-hop. Pump your fists, like this.”

Noting the award “represents longevity, resilience and sisterhood,” Pepa remarked, “When we first started, there wasn’t any blueprint for women like us in hip-hop. We were told to compete, we were told to conform. We were told to make ourselves smaller in the room. But we chose to stand together and to stay true to who we are. So this award is really for the women that came before us. It’s for the women standing beside us. It’s for the women coming next, and it’s for every female MC who was ever underestimated but never silenced.”

Over the course of their three-decade+ career, Salt-N-Pepa and DJ Spinderella released a string of enduring hits and cultural anthems such as “Push It,” “Shoop,” “Whatta Man” (with En Vogue) and “Let’s Talk About Sex.” Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2025, the group was previously honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021 and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2022.

“We didn’t know we were building a movement,” added Spinderella of the NAACP honor. “We were just being ourselves. Looking back, we changed what women in hip-hop were allowed to be. We normalized women owning their voice. We talked about independence, expression, relationships, sex, confidence, standards, openly and unapologetically, and the visuals: the fashion, the hair, the choreography, the attitude.

“We were feminine without shrinking; bold without apology,” she continued . “We made it clear that fun, fashion and femininity had a place in hip-hop and our songs. They weren’t just hits. They sparked conversations. And we didn’t just entertain. We connected. When I look at the generations that came after us — they’re so confident, so bold, so message-driven, so powerful — I smile. I’m so proud. Now I understand what we built wasn’t just music; it was a movement. We are Salt-N-Pepa. We are sisterhood.”

Aired via BET, CBS and across the Paramount networks, the NAACP Image Awards also presented special honors to Viola Davis (chairman’s award) and Colman Domingo (president’s award). Michael B. Jordan (Sinners) won the entertainer of the year award, presented by Lionel Richie. That category’s other nominees included Kendrick Lamar, Doechii, Teyana Taylor and Cynthia Erivo. See the full winners list here.

Returning as host, actor/comedian Deon Cole, a three-time Image Award winner, helmed the two-hour celebration, which featured no musical performances. He kept the ceremony lively and colorful, covering everything from blasting ICE to roasting Nicki Minaj in a playful prayer on behalf of several entertainers.

Days after the announcement of his passing, the cause of Oliver “Power” Grant’s death has been revealed.

Grant, a co-founder of the iconic hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan, died following “a courageous and hard-fought battle with pancreatic cancer,” his family and Wu-Tang Clan said in a joint statement to Rolling Stone.

A childhood friend of RZA’s, Grant played an integral role in building the legendary Staten Island, N.Y., crew and invested in the brand from its earliest stages. He also served as an executive producer on all of Wu’s albums. The group announced his death on Feb. 25. He was 52.

The news of Grant’s passing came the same day the Wu-Tang Clan received its first Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nomination for the Class of 2026.

“A true fighter until the end, he was surrounded by his mother, his children, his family, and his closest friends,” the tribute read.

A “proud product of the Park Hill neighborhood” of Staten Island, Grant grew up alongside the future members of Wu-Tang Clan. “From those streets, he rose to become a visionary force, a pillar of the Wu-Tang family, and a global architect of culture,” the statement continued. “It was the honor of his life to pour his love, wisdom, and brilliance into his family and his community. His impact was singular; there will never be another to take his place.”

“Power will always be loved, and his legacy will forever remain,” Grant’s family and Wu-Tang wrote in closing. “Greatness is not what you have, but what you give.”

Although Power wasn’t a performing member of the Wu-Tang Clan, he played a crucial role in the group’s rise. In 1992, he helped finance the act’s first single, “Protect Ya Neck,” and served as executive producer on their 1993 debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers).

Grant’s influence also extended beyond music. He co-founded the pioneering streetwear brand Wu Wear, a trailblazing and highly lucrative venture for the group.