Taraji P. Henson Criticizes Controversial Project 2025 Plan During Impassioned BET Awards Speech: “Did You Know That It Is Now A Crime To Be Homeless?”

By Samantha Nungesser @samjnungesser
Published July 1, 2024
Updated July 1, 2024

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Taraji P. Henson

Taraji P. Henson is using her platform to call out the Republican party. While hosting the BET Awards on Sunday night (June 30), the actress encouraged American citizens to vote in the upcoming election, referencing recently passed bills that allow authorities to punish homeless people for sleeping in public spaces.

The The Color Purple star made her impassioned speech before announcing GloRilla’s performance at the annual award show.

“It’s about time for us to play chess, not checkers,” she said directly to the camera. “It’s about making decisions that will affect us as human beings, our careers, our next generations to come.”

Henson continued, “Did you know that it is now a crime to be homeless? Pay attention. It’s not a secret. Look it up. They are attacking our most vulnerable citizens. The Project 2025 plan is not a game. Look it up!”

The U.S. Supreme Court’s controversial decision, which was made on Friday (June 28), overturned a lower court’s claim that anti-camping laws used to stop homeless people from sleeping in public parks and streets violate the U.S. Constitution’s Eighth Amendment prohibition on “cruel and unusual” punishments, per Reuters. The 6-3 ruling found conservative justices in the majority, while the three liberal justices were not in favor.

Meanwhile, Project 2025 is a collection of far-right policies outlining how Donald Trump could reshape the federal government if he wins the 2024 presidential election.

Elsewhere during the award ceremony, Henson made a dig at Trump’s claim that migrants are taking “Black jobs” from Americans.

“[This is] a show packed full of all-stars with Black jobs. Whatever that means,” she said. “But clearly we know there’s a difference — thanks for the info, but we already knew it.”

Henson previously made headlines when she emotionally admitted she was considering leaving Hollywood over unfair pay as a Black woman.

“I’m just tired of working so hard, being gracious at what I do [and] getting paid a fraction of the cost,” she said on Gayle King‘s SiriusXM show in December 2023. “I’m tired of hearing my sisters say the same thing over and over. You get tired. I hear people go, ‘You work a lot.’ Well, I have to. The math ain’t mathing. When you start working a lot, you have a team. Big bills come with what we do. We don’t do this alone. It’s a whole team behind us. They have to get paid.”

She continued, “Every time I do something and break another glass ceiling, when it’s time to renegotiate, I’m at the bottom again like I never did what I just did, and I’m tired. I’m tired. It wears on you. What does that mean? What is that telling me? If I can’t fight for them coming up behind me then what the fuck am I doing?”

Check out the clip of Henson’s BET Awards speech above.