The 2020 Grammys kicked off with a tribute to late basketball great Kobe Bryant, who died Sunday in a helicopter crash.
Lizzo, clad in a sparkly black gown, performed to start the show, announcing, “Tonight is for Kobe,” before launching into “Cuz I Love You” off of her album of the same name. She later transitioned into her hit “Truth Hurts.”
Grammys host Alicia Keys then paid tribute to Bryant at the top of the show, after Lizzo’s performance, somberly addressing the audience and saying that everyone was feeling “crazy sadness” after the loss of “a hero” in Bryant.
“We’re literally standing here heartbroken in the house that Kobe Bryant built,” she said to applause from the well-heeled crowd. She urged the audience to hold Bryant and the other victims of the crash in their hearts and performed a bit of “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday” with Boyz II Men, ending by saying “We love you, Kobe.”
A Recording Academy rep confirmed to Billboard earlier Sunday that there would be a tribute to the former Los Angeles Lakers star during the CBS broadcast, which aired live from the Lakers’ longtime home of the Staples Center.
Both of Bryant’s retired jersey numbers were illuminated in the Staples Center rafters, which the cameras focused on during Keys’ opener.
Earlier, the non-televised Premiere Ceremony, where the majority of the Grammys trophies are handed out, began with a moment of silence for Bryant.
(Excerpt) Read more in: The Hollywood Reporter