BET Awards: Usher gives emotional speech as he receives lifetime achievement prize

Usher delivered an emotional speech as he accepted a lifetime achievement prize at the BET Awards on Sunday.

The singer-songwriter told the audience as he accepted the award that “getting here has definitely not been easy, but it has been worth it”.

The 45-year-old is best known for hits including Yeah! and You Make Me Wanna.

Usher also picked up the award for best R&B and hip-hop artist at the ceremony.

He opened his 15-minute-long acceptance speech by saying: “This life achievement award, I don’t know, man, is it too early to receive it? Cause I’m still runnin’ and gunnin’ like I did when I was eight years old.”

The singer went on to speak about his dad leaving his family when he was a child.

“I was trying to make sense of this name a man gave me that didn’t stick around because he didn’t love me,” he said.

“You have to have a forgiving heart to understand the true pitfalls and hardships of a black man in America and my father, he was a product of that.”

He also reflected on what it means to now be a father himself.

“This is the year of the father. Stand up for your daughters and sons and lead,” he told the audience at the Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles.

“It’s important to understand that fatherhood is so important.

“For all the fathers tonight at home or in the audience I would like for y’all to stand up just for two seconds for me.

As several men in the audience got on their feet, Usher said: “We don’t get a chance to say enough, ‘Dad I did it’, so this one is for all of the men out there being generals to their sons, and motivation for our future black leaders – young men.”