Though the 2025 Oscars had it’s fair share of high moments, one of the lows was unfortunately the highly-anticipated Quincy Jones tribute led by Queen Latifah. And folks on social media aren’t mincing words about it!
Let us first start by saying that our beef with this tribute has less to do with Queen herself than it does the fact that out of all the notable and more popular songs—they picked “Ease On Down the Road” from “The Wiz” to honor Jones.
Like, seriously?
Given the gargantuan of a figure that he is and the countless movies Jones scored on and/or contributed musically to, the Academy picking a song from a movie we know 99.9% of white people weren’t familiar and never watched felt like a deliberate miss. And sure, they may get points for bringing the famous rapper and actor back onstage to reprise a role she took on back in 2015. But that connection wasn’t enough to really justify her presence there. And that’s no shade, just facts.
Another factor that made this tribute so lackluster was the fact that it was also limited to one song that was less than five minutes long whereas the random AF James Bond tribute lasted a grand total of eight minutes and some change and featured not one, not two but three singers. For a famous producer and composer who had number one records from the 60s-80s, Jones at the very least could have been given the same amount of performers.
Queen Latifah Performs Quincy Jones Tribute at 97th Oscars (2025)
What’s more is that this “tribute” is the second one since his death back in November 2024 that failed to really capture the magnitude of his musical and cinematic influence. Though the 2025 Grammys tribute hit some high notes with Will Smith’s touching words and Cynthia Erivo’s stunning performance of “Fly Me to the Moon,” Janelle Monae’s rendition of Michael Jackson’s “Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough” failed to stick the landing and left more of a sour taste in people’s mouths than expected. How is it that giant institutions like the Recording Academy and the Academy of Motion Pictures keep dropping the ball and dropping it this badly?
And as if to add even more insult to injury, Jones was left off of the “In Memoriam” segment, presumably because they were taking the time to honor him separately. But for what we got, they honestly would have been better off just putting his face in with the rest of the late Hollywood folks. (And let’s not talk about how they left “Candyman’s” Tony Todd and recently deceased Michelle Trachtenberg off if it too, but we digress.)
But even if, after all we just told you, you think we’re being too hard on the tribute—let us be the first to tell you that we’re being a helluva lot more gracious than the folks on social media.
“Quincy Jones is probably the easiest layup for a tribute. idk how these award shows keep f**king up,” wrote one user on X/Twitter.
“It’s impossible to properly tribute Quincy Jones and I appreciate the effort but omgggg another miss. Please HAVE US @BETAwards. Call in every favor,” said another.
“Between the Grammys and the Oscars, we might need to put on a concert to give Quincy Jones the tribute he deserves,” one other user wrote.
Added another, “The way Quincy Jones been getting these quick tributes is making me mad. Of course it’s hard to try to cram his 70 year long career in a 5-8 minute tribute but damn! The man literally touched every corner of the industry, we need more.”
“The amount of time dedicated to that 007 tribute could have gone to the Quincy Jones tribute,” one user noted.
Said another, “I love Queen Latifah, But we could’ve had a better vocalist pay tribute to King Quincy Jones.”
Please, for the love of all that is Black and excellent—BET Awards, please do right by Q. It’s what he deserves.
