Cathy Hughes Speaks on Urban One Honors, 40 Years in the Business, Diversity & LGBTQ Community (Videos)

Cathy Hughes, Founder and Chairwoman of Urban One held a press event to shine some light on the event, herself, and its importance. The Urban One Honors show will take place Thursday, December 5, 2019, at MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland.

Tuesday, November 12, Cathy Hughes, Urban One Founder and Chairwoman held a “Press Supporting Press” event. This event was a safe haven for every level of Black journalism. There was good food, good people, and good spirits. During the event, Hughes spoke about being in the business for 40 years and revealed more information about this year’s Urban One Honors.

“I give praise and thanks to God from whom all blessings flow for the opportunity to be of service to my community for these 40 years,” said Hughes. “I always say that Radio One is my second baby next to my son and business partner, Alfred Liggins. I am immensely grateful for the men and women who have worked to help make Radio One a success. It started as a single radio station and is now a media family with two cable television networks and various digital media platforms. I look forward to celebrating this milestone and recognizing  others who are doing phenomenal  work in their industries.”

Throughout the event, Hughes, Alfred Liggins III, Michelle Rice, and Kashon Powell all highlighted the importance of culture, coming together, and perseverance, and more.

This year’s honorees include: veteran music executive Sylvia Rhone (Lifetime Achievement Award); Grammy Award-winning entertainer Missy Elliott (Music Innovation Award); Academy Award-winning actor Jamie Foxx (Entertainment Icon Award); and actor/dancer and star of Pose, Ryan Jamaal Swain (Represent Pride Award). 

While speaking on the Represent Pride Award with Swain, Hughes spoke on diversity, inclusion, and the LGBTQ community. She acknowledged how Black people may push the LGBTQ community to the side, and that you can’t exclude one group of Black people from the Black narrative.

“What you see on Pose is the real life story of a large segment of our community, that not only has been ignored, but has been persecuted by ourselves… Everybody is not the same, we have differences. But the one thing we all have is if you’re a person of color, you are oppressed… This is not a battle that any one segment of our community needs to fight by themselves.”

Tickets to the awards show are available to the public and can be purchased at urbanonehonors.com. The two-hour telecast will air on TV One, a division of Urban One, on January 20, 2020, the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.