A BET Awards official has explained why late rapper Guru was left out of a tribute at the recent ceremony - blaming a "technical glitch" for the hip-hop legend's absence.
Organisers of the awards show, which took place in Los Angeles last Sunday night (27Jun10), put together a video piece to honour stars who have passed away over the last year.
The show saw nods to Lena Horne, Teddy Pendergrass, and former child actor Gary Coleman, but fans were left fuming when there was no mention of legendary Gang Starr rapper Guru, who lost his battle with cancer in April (10).
Stephen Hill, BET's Executive Vice President of Entertainment and Music Programming, is adamant a tribute piece was put together for Guru, but the video was accidentally left out of the live show due to an error.
He tells AllHipHop.com, "It was nothing more than a technical glitch. It was the same reason you didn't see anything about Naomi Sims, a black model who passed, and Marvin Isley of the Isley Brothers. So, Guru, Naomi Sims and Marvin Isley were all tied to this one (video) package that didn't fire off the way it was supposed to.
"We realised there was nothing we could do (during the show). We had to keep it moving after that technical glitch. Guru, Naomi Sims and Marvin Isley were all victims of that technical glitch."