MOTOWN THE MUSICAL's Berry Gordy to Receive Visionary Award at 2014 BET Honors, Airing 2/24

Dedicated to celebrating black excellence, this year's "BET Honors" recognizes the achievements of five spectacular African Americans; Aretha Franklin, Berry Gordy, Ken Chenault, Carrie Mae Weems and Ice Cube.

Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin receives the Musical Arts Award for an incomparable four decades in music. Berry Gordy, record producer, songwriter and founder of Motown Records and creator of the smash hit Motown the Musical, currently bringing the legacy of Motown to the Broadway stage at the Lunt Fontanne Theatre, will receive the Visionary Award for creating the company that redefined an industry and became the soundtrack of a generation. Ken Chenault, Chairman and CEO of American Express receives the Corporate Citizen Award for his leadership in business and personal commitment to public service and philanthropy. Artist, activist and 2013 MacArthur Genius, Carrie Mae Weems is the Visual Arts Award recipient for her provocative art which tackles complex issues of race, gender and class through video and photography. Trailblazer O'Shea Jackson better known as Ice Cube, receives the Entertainment Award for his pioneering work in music and impressive career in film and television.

Hosted by Renaissance man Wayne Brady, "BET Honors" once again tapes at the historic Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, February 8, 2014 and will premiere on Monday, February 24, 2014 at 9:00 pm* during Black HISTORY Month on BET Networks in the USA and around the world on BET's international network on February 28, 2014 at 9:00pm GMT (check local listings).

Proceeds from "BET Honors" will benefit the Women Veterans Interactive (WVI), an organization that helps restore hope as well as provides housing options and support for veterans and their families in need. WVI was created to address the unique, and often unrecognized, challenges facing our nation's 1.8 million woman veterans as they return to civilian life.

Stephen Hill, President of Music Programming and Specials, BET Networks, and Lynne Harris Taylor, Vice President of Specials, BET Networks are executive producers, along with Jesse Collins of Jesse Collins Productions.

For more information on "BET Honors," visit www.bet.com/bethonors . Join the conversation about the special on Twitter by using hashtags: #BETHonors; follow the show for all updates & special surprises @BET.

*All times EST

About BET Networks: BET Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB), is the nation's leading provider of quality entertainment, music, news and public affairs television programming for the African-American audience. The primary BET channel reaches more than 90 million households and can be seen in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom and sub-Saharan Africa. BET is the dominant African-American consumer brand with a diverse group of business extensions: BET.com, a leading Internet destination for Black entertainment, music, culture, and news; CENTRIC, a 24-hour entertainment network targeting the 25- to 54-year-old African-American audience; BET Digital Networks - BET Gospel and BET Hip Hop, attractive alternatives for cutting-edge entertainment tastes; BET Home Entertainment, a collection of BET-branded offerings for the home environment including DVDs and video-on-demand; BET Event Productions, a full-scale event management and Production Company with festivals and live events spanning the globe; BET Mobile, which provides ringtones, games and video content for wireless devices; and BET International, which operates BET in the United Kingdom and oversees the extension of BET network programming for global distribution.