The BET Network made an announcement that comedian Leslie Jones will host the Black Entertainment Television Awards 2017 which will be held on June 25th. Comedians that have previously hosted the awards are, Chris Tucker, Kevin Hart, Mo'Nique and Chris Rock. When contacted by WCLK FM, she said that she is excited to host the awards this year and will be looking forward to turning the experience into a joyful homecoming.

A brief story of Leslie Jones

Leslie was born in 1967, in Tennessee.

She is an American comedian and also an actress. Leslie is a cast member of Saturday Night Live. She has been a featured performer at the Just For Laugh Festival in Canada and the Aspen Comedy Festival. She starred in the movie Ghostbusters in 2016 as Patty Tolan. She was good at basketball back in her teenage years and studied communication at the Colorado State University. Leslie started her career in comedy back in 1987 while in college. She won a contest back in college which was referred to as The Funniest Person In Campus. She moved to L.A and started performing at Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles while working at UPS. She has previously met comedians Dave Chappelle and Mother of Love during her performances and was once booed by an audience when opening up for Jamie Foxx.

Jones was first given the position of a writer on Saturday Night Live after passing the auditions. She appeared in her first film Top Five which featured Chris Rock in 2014. She appeared in Trainwreck in 2015 as well as Ghostbusters in 2016. She is influenced by Richard Pryor, Whoopie Goldberg, and Eddie Murphy.

Jones announced that she would be leaving Twitter on July 18th last year after receiving several racial attacks against her.

Her website was also hacked later in the year, and its contents replaced with photos of her passport and driving license. Nude photos that were alleged to be hers were also posted on the site. The two incidences resulted in her getting support from fans and other celebrities through Twitter and Instagram hashtag #LoveForLeslieJ.

The BET 2017 awards

This year, the BET Awards will be held on June 25th at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. The award celebrates the achievement of black entertainment in television, music, sports and movies that were released between the months of April last year and March this year. Beyonce leads with seven nominations while Bruno Mars has five.

BET 2016 and 2015 awards were hosted by Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross. The 2014 awards were hosted by Chris Rock while Chris Tucker hosted the 2013 awards.
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