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Sunday night's BET Awards might as well have been called a comeback tour rather than an award show, considering that three nominees and eventual winners – Rihanna, Lady Gaga and Beyonce – didn't even bother showing up, and four men with shaky pasts – Chris Brown, Kanye West, Eminem, and T.I. – attempted to redeem themselves.

Kanye, in his first television appearance since last August when he famously stole Taylor Swift's glory at the MTV VMAs, and Em, who recently announced his sobriety, opened the show with a performance of West's new single "Power," along with Alicia Keys, Usher, Diddy and Drake. Rapper T.I., who was recently released from prison for weapons charges, performed a skit with host Queen Latifah mocking the arrest. But the most talked about performance of the evening was Chris Brown's solo tribute to Michael Jackson in which Brown sang and danced to a medley of Jackson's hits.

The singer, who pled guilty to felony assault on Rihanna last week, became choked up and started crying during his performance of "Man in the Mirror" and was unable to perform. The shocked crowd applauded Brown in a standing ovation, while he was embraced by Michael's brother Jermaine after he walked off the stage. Brown later returned to the stage telling the audience, "I let you all down before, but I won't do it again. I promise," referring to the assault charges.

The show wasn't all positive, though. Many have cited Brown's display of emotion as a publicity stunt and rapper Nicki Minaj, who won for Best New Artist and Best Female Hip-Hop Artist, performed obviously lip-synced versions of her songs. –ELENA COX

For more on the awards, go to: blogs.blackvoices.com/2010/06/28/bet-awards-2010-red-carpet-photos-video/