The BET Awards paid tribute to Willie Brown, the former mayor of San Francisco, very much alive, during the show’s tribute on Sunday night to notable African-Americans who died last year.
Between pioneering actress Diahann Carroll and soul singer Bill Withers, an image from “Willie Lewis Brown Jr.: Politician” appeared during the in memoriam segment of the show.
The producers of the show had wanted to honor “Old Man Willie” Brown, who died in October at age 78. The Hall of Fame cornerback played 16 seasons in the NFL, 12 of them for the Raiders in Oakland and Los Angeles.
The error was corrected for playback immediately after transmission.
The former mayor and speaker of the California Assembly is 86 years old and writes a weekly column for the San Francisco Chronicle. He wrote Saturday that President Donald Trump’s spiraling political fortune is nobody’s fault but his.
“These days, the show is Trump hitting himself at all times,” Brown wrote.
Sarah Kaufman contributed
