The host of this year's BET Hip-Hop Awards, DeRay Davis did his best to keep his jokes at medium stun. The one Aubrey Graham was ridiculed on account of his estranged child and also on account of his ghostwriting allegations. The first of two jokes were set up with a Kanye West lead-in sentence describing his relative "creative freedom."
"Like Drake. He can go back and forth over the border without his baby; that’s a lot of freedom," he joked.
Drake who wasn't present for the gala had the support of the crowd, who were unsure how to react given the circumstances. A seemingly uncomfortable murmur preceded the next joke.
"Drake always nominated, always win, and don't come to the shows," the comedian said (with or without the support of the crowd). "I understand you don’t want to rock with us, bro. You don’t want to come to the awards shows. You ain’t gotta come. At least send the n**** who wrote your shit."
After was quick to defuse the crowd's nervous energy by issuing a 3rd "unrehearsed" joke at Drake's expense, this time in reference to the J. Prince intervention of his ill-conceived beef with Pusha T.
"Don’t 'oh and oooh," DeRay said to the audience. "Drake ain’t gonna say nothing to me, ‘cause J. Prince told him he couldn't."
DeRay Davis clearly meant no ill-will towards Drake, even though many issues were at least one time, a sore spot for the Canadian rapper.