Wednesday afternoon the Black Entertainment Industry arrived at FAMU to have its 10th annual B.E.T Black College Tour. Honestly, it is not what it is all cracked up to be.
On television, they make it seem like someone with at least “Basketball Wives” celebrity status will show up, but no. As usual, it felt like one big corporate promotion fair. Just the same as last year, they had a HIV booth set up for testing, an endurance test booth sponsored by the U.S Air Force, a basketball hoop shot bounce house, an internship sign up booth, a Cover Girl booth, and, of course, The B.E.T Black College Tour stage, where nothing spectacular happened. I would have been happier if talent deficient rapper 50 Tyson had come, because that would at least give us something to remember about the event.
The only difference between this and last year’s tour is KFC had a booth, where you can collect KFC dollars in a glass machine. Most of these activities were very basic. I understand that B.E.T needs sponsors to keep up this tour, but the tour focuses more on sponsorship than on real entertainment for us students. Instead of an endurance test, why didn’t they have a karaoke booth? Maybe BET is trying to tell us something. The tour needed to keep the internship booth but add a little more excitement to the table where we can get free stuff. Get a REAL bounce house.
Two things I would not change: the HIV testing booth – it is always good to promote HIV awareness – and the KFC money machine contest – that was fun.
One saving grace for the day was that the Student Government Association had its annual homecoming barbeque. Although the lines for a plate were backed up to from B.L Perry to Foster Tanner Music Center, it was worth it because the plate was free. They had baked beans, baked chicken, hot dogs, hamburgers, and peach cobbler. Thanks for the food SGA, but can somebody tell B.E.T to do better. The B.E.T College Tour is getting tired.