Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama was across town at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion for a fundraiser in his honor, but I’m sure that he could feel the love from the bevy of African American entertainers at the BET Awards at the Shrine Auditorium.

From the moment the annual awards show began with actress Kym Whitley flashing across the red carpet wearing a lavender, long sleeved blouse with “Barack Obama O8” on the front, to best female R&B artist Alicia Keys urging the crowd to erase the word “can’t” form their vocabulary, it was as much about Obama as it was about them.

“Together we can do anything,” shouted Keys, and then enlisted the Democrat theme “Yes We Can”, before bellowing “Obama y’all!”

Keys was not the only one in an Obama-feel-good-mood.

“If we register and vote, we will have the first Black president in the history of America,” Sean “Diddy” Combs told the buzzing crowd on Tuesday June 24.

Rapper David Banner told a group of reporters backstage, “For the first time in history, we have the opportunity for somebody who’s not in the good ol’ boy network to get into office.”

Officials for the BET Awards had discussions of having Obama attend the BET Awards, but it did not work out, and as it turns out he still had a powerful presence.

For Complete BET Awards and photos see our Entertainment Section.

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