BET Awards 2025: Jamie Foxx Sheds Tears During Speech About ‘Second Chances’

Jamie Foxx told jokes, shed tears, and talked about the power of prayer on stage at the BET Awards.

The actor, comedian and musician was honored on Monday, June 9, with BET’s Ultimate Icon Award.

After being introduced by Stevie Wonder, Foxx expressed gratitude to his family, friends, fans, and to God for pulling him through the biggest challenge of his life.

“Man, we used to take this thing for granted — that God is good,” he said in his acceptance speech. “I cannot even begin to express the love that I feel from everybody out there.”

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Foxx revealed in his 2024 Netflix special What Had Happened Was that he suffered a brain bleed and stroke in 2023. On Monday night, he spoke candidly, and said BET’s in memoriam segment brought back memories of his own near-death experience.

“I got to be honest, when I saw the in memoriam, I was like, ‘Man, that could’ve been me,’” he said.

Cameras cut to Foxx’s two daughters, who were in tears.

“I don’t know why I went through what I went through, but I know my second chance, I’m not going to turn it down,” he said while crying.

“I have so much love to give. I told [God] I said, ‘Man, bro,’ I said, ‘Just give me one more crack at this and I promise.’ I said, ‘Whatever reason you put this on me, I promise I’mma do right. And I’mma do right in front of y’all, because I know a lot of times, when we get on, we forget about where we came from,” he explained.

He thanked the Black community for their continued prayers.

“You can’t go through something like that and not testify,” Foxx said as the audience inside the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles rose to its feet.

He recited lines from some of his favorite roles, thanked BET, and singled out his sister, Deidra Dixon, who was seated next to his two daughters.

“When I went through what I was going through, she shut it down. And she made sure that she took care of her brother,” he said. “A little Black girl from South Dallas and she does all the hair and makeup on the Marvel films.”

The Oscar-winning Ray star also paid tribute to his daughters.

“My beautiful daughter, Corinne, I cannot say enough about you. You’ve always taken a backseat to everything. But when you needed to drive it, you drove. And you made sure I was here, and I’m not gonna stop crying,” he said.

At that point, Stevie Wonder tried to hurry the actor along. But Foxx respectfully brushed him aside, and said he couldn’t leave the stage without honoring his daughter Anelise.

“Anelise Estelle Foxx, my baby with the big hair. She hides under that hair because she got something special. You’re so beautiful, man,” Foxx said. “When I was fighting for my life… I didn’t want my 14-year-old to see me like that, but she snuck into my room with her guitar.”

The actor and comedian said the music had healing powers, which he also talked about in his Netflix special.

Before his speech, Craig Robinson, Babyface, Ludacris, Jennifer Hudson, Tank, Doug E. Fresh, Teddy Riley, and T-Pain celebrated Foxx’s music career by performing some of his hit songs.