Free and AJ Leave 106&Park
Stephen Hill, BET's Executive Vice President for Music and Entertainment Programming, issued this column a statement regarding the whereabouts of vee-jay Free that said, "We look forward to her return shortly as she is on vacation." Well it looks like Free's "vacation" is going to be a permanent one and her co-host A.J. Calloway is following suit.
Last Thursday, July 28, Calloway sported a t-shirt that said "Still Free" and announced that he and Free were leaving BET. "This is my last show over here at '106 & Park,' and me and Free will no longer be here at BET. It takes a bigger man to walk away from a situation," said a tearful Calloway. He even phoned Free on his cell phone so that she could hear the audience cheer for her.
BET's Hill says that the network learned of Calloway's plans to quit the day he announced it. "We knew he was going announce it on air [but] we didn't know how he was going to do it. We encouraged him to do it as he wanted. He didn't have to clear the method with us. We wanted him to do it the way his heart felt best doing so. After five years, he had earned that," he explained.
Rumors have been abuzz since the BET Awards that Free had bolted the network. Several reports had the Boston-bred part-time rapper having a verbal altercation with Hill during the ceremony that caused her to quit on the spot, thus explaining her absence from presenting the Viewer's Choice Award alongside Calloway.
Hill says the rumors are not true. "There was no argument and no quitting on the spot. Free was on vacation like I previously stated but apparently decided during her time off to move on," he clarified. So why didn't Free present the Viewer's Choice Award? "That's something I am not at liberty to discuss," Hill confessed.
It was just over a year ago that Calloway had problems with BET over moonlighting for the news magazine show 'Extra!' and skipping out on '106 & Park' tapings. Calloway was rumored to have been fired by '106 & Park,' while he was adamant that he quit the show and even gave an "I Quit" party in Los Angeles following last year's BET Awards. Whatever the situation was, it was reconciled, and Calloway returned to the show several months later.
"You never know when you're going to see the last of something," said Calloway during his final live broadcast. But Hill assures us that '106 & Park' will live on without its former hosts. Tigger ('BET Style') and Julissa ('The Center') will host this week, but Hill says that move is only temporary. "They are not the permanent hosts and people will have to stay tuned to see what happens next," he reminded.
Expect other BET personalities like Ray J ('BET.com Countdown'), Melissa Ford ('BET Style') and Mad Linx ('Rap City'); in addition to a bevy of celebrity guest hosts to hold down the show in the weeks to come.
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