Byron Allen’s ‘TheGrio Awards’ Honors Dave Chappelle, Norman Lear

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Star-studded lineup also include Tyler Perry, Patti LaBelle, Kenan Thompson, Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson

Byron Allen
Byron Allen (Image credit: Allen Media Group)

Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group is launching TheGrio Awards with a star-studded event on October 22 honoring Dave Chappelle, Tyler Perry and Norman Lear among others.

The event will be broadcast November 5 on TV stations nationwide and appear on theGrio Television Network and other Allen Media Group TV and digital platforms.

“I created theGrio Awards to celebrate and amplify African-American excellence and the incredible champions from other communities who truly support us,” said Byron Allen, Founder/Chairman/CEO of Allen Media Group. “As a child, strong, positive African-American icons such as Berry Gordy, Jr., Rosa Parks, Muhammad Ali, and Martin Luther King, Jr. helped me see myself differently, and changed the trajectory of my life. Celebrating and amplifying iconic individuals is something we can never do enough of, especially for our children.”

Also Read: Busy Byron Allen Wants To Be Big, but Doesn’t Want To Be a Unicorn

Chappell will be receiving theGrio Cultural Icon Award, Perry won theGrio Icon Awad and Lear will get theGrio Champion Award.

Other award-winners including Petti Labelle, Kenan Thompson, Ben Crump, Alena Analeigh McQuarter, Robert F. Smith, Allyson Felix, Don Peebles, Queen Latifah and Jennifer Hudson.

The event will include musical performance by Yolanda Adams, Tyrese, Fantasia and Patti LaBelle. Greg Phillinganes will be music director and DJ Kiss will be DJ and announcer.

Allen Media Group and Backhand Productions are co-producing theGrio Awards. Executive Producers include: Byron Allen, Carolyn Folks, Jennifer Lucas, Jeff Atlas, and Michelle Willrich.  ■

Jon Lafayette
Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.