CBS to Broadcast The Second Annual “Byron Allen Presents TheGrio Awards,” Celebrating Icons, Leaders and Legends, Saturday, November 25

Allen Media Group’s African American-focused news, lifestyle, sports, and entertainment platform theGrio (www.thegrio.com) recently celebrated icons, leaders, and legends at the second annual BYRON ALLEN PRESENTS THEGRIO AWARDS, a star-studded, black-tie event held at the Beverly Hilton. Co-hosted by THE TALK’s Sheryl Underwood and comedian Roy Wood, Jr., BYRON ALLEN PRESENTS THEGRIO AWARDS will be broadcast on Saturday, November 25 (8:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network and available to stream live on Paramount +*. Get the Paramount+ with SHOWTIME® plan for $11.99 a month. Try it FREE!

BYRON ALLEN PRESENTS THEGRIO AWARDS celebrates excellence in film, music, comedy, television, sports, philanthropy, business, fashion, social justice, environmental justice, education and the cultural icons and innovators whose many contributions positively impact America. The special pays tribute to and amplifies the history makers, change agents and artists who define and influence our world.

Honorees include Mariah Carey (The Music Icon Award), Don Cheadle (The Environmental Champion Icon Award), Misty Copeland (The Trailblazer Icon Award), Dr. Kizzmekia S Corbett-Helaire (The Science Icon Award), Tamron Hall (The Journalism Icon Award), Kevin Hart (The Comedy Icon Award), Steve Harvey (The Television Icon Award), Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (The Inspirational Icon Award), Eddie Murphy (The Icon Award), The Reverend Al Sharpton (The Justice Icon Award) and Denzel Washington (The Film Icon Award). BYRON ALLEN PRESENTS THEGRIO AWARDS also features musical performances by Boyz II Men, Jennifer Hudson, Coco Jones, Patti LaBelle, and Smokey Robinson. Greg Phillinganes serves as musical director, and DJ Kiss acts as the DJ for the awards special.

“I created the Grio Awards to celebrate and amplify African American excellence and the incredible champions from other communities who truly support us,” said Byron Allen, founder/chairman/CEO of Allen Media Group. “As a child, strong, positive African American icons such as Berry Gordy, Jr., Rosa Parks, Muhammad Ali and Martin Luther King, Jr. helped me see myself differently and changed the trajectory of my life. Celebrating and amplifying iconic individuals is something we can never do enough of, especially for our children.”

BYRON ALLEN PRESENTS THEGRIO AWARDS is co-produced by Allen Media Group and Backhand Productions. Byron Allen, Carolyn Folks, Jennifer Lucas, Jeff Atlas and Michelle Willrich are executive producers.

*Paramount+ Premium subscribers will have access to stream live via the live feed of their local CBS affiliate.

About Allen Media Group

Chairman and CEO Byron Allen founded Allen Media Group in 1993. Headquartered in Los Angeles, it has offices in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, and Charleston, SC. Allen Media Group owns 27 ABC-NBC-CBS-FOX network affiliate broadcast television stations in 21 U.S. markets and twelve 24-hour HD television networks serving nearly 300 million subscribers: THE WEATHER CHANNEL, THE WEATHER CHANNEL EN ESPAÑOL, PETS.TV, COMEDY.TV, RECIPE.TV, CARS.TV, ES.TV, MYDESTINATION.TV, JUSTICECENTRAL.TV, THEGRIO TELEVISION NETWORK, THIS TV, and PATTRN. Allen Media Group also owns the streaming platforms HBCU GO, SPORTS.TV, THEGRIO, THE WEATHER CHANNEL EN ESPAÑOL, THE WEATHER CHANNEL STREAMING APP and LOCAL NOW–the free-streaming AVOD service powered by THE WEATHER CHANNEL and content partners, which delivers real-time, hyper-local news, weather, traffic, sports, and lifestyle information. Allen Media Group also produces, distributes, and sells advertising for 73 television programs, making it one of the largest independent producers/distributors of first-run syndicated television programming for broadcast television stations. With a library of over 5,000 hours of owned content across multiple genres, Allen Media Group provides video content to broadcast television stations, cable television networks, mobile devices, and multimedia digital. Our mission is to provide excellent content to our viewers, global platforms, and Fortune 500 advertising partners.

Allen Media Group Motion Pictures (AMGMP) is a full-service, theatrical motion picture distribution company specializing in wide release commercial content. AMGMP released 2017’s highest-grossing independent movie, the shark thriller 47 METERS DOWN, which grossed over $44.3 million. In 2018, AMGMP also released the critically acclaimed and commercially successful Western HOSTILES, the historic mystery-thriller CHAPPAQUIDDICK and the sequel to 47 METERS DOWN, 47 METERS DOWN: UNCAGED. Allen Media Group’s digital movie distribution unit, Freestyle Digital Media, is a premiere multi-platform distributor with direct partnerships across all major cable, digital and streaming platforms. Capitalizing on a robust infrastructure, proven track record and a veteran sales team, Freestyle Digital Media is a true home for independent films. Recent releases include BEST SUMMER EVER the teen musical featuring a fully integrated cast and crew of people with and without disabilities, produced by Jamie Lee Curtis, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Mary Steenburgen and Ted Danson, THE WEDDING YEAR starring Sarah Hyland and Anna Camp, THE LAST PHOTOGRAPH starring Danny Houston, BERSERK starring Nick Cannon, UNTOGETHER starring Jamie Dornan, Jemima Kirke, Ben Mendelsohn, Alice Eve and Billy Crystal. Other Freestyle titles include the action-comedy BETTER START RUNNING starring Academy Award-winner Jeremy Irons and Maria Bello, THE BACHELORS starring Academy Award-winner J.K. Simmons, Julie Delpy and Odeya Rush, the award-winning documentary HONDROS produced by Jamie Lee Curtis and Jake Gyllenhaal, horror documentary DEMON HOUSE starring Zak Bagans, host of Travel Channel’s highest rated show Ghost Adventures, sci-fi thriller THE RECALL starring Wesley Snipes, MILES starring Molly Shannon and Paul Reiser and the animated feature HELL & BACK starring Nick Swardson, Mila Kunis and Bob Odenkirk.

In 2016, Allen Media Group purchased The Grio, a highly rated digital video-centric news community platform devoted to providing African Americans with compelling stories and perspectives currently underrepresented in existing national news outlets. The Grio features aggregated and original video packages, news articles and opinion pieces on topics that include breaking news, politics, health, business and entertainment. Originally launched in 2009, the platform was then purchased by NBC News in 2010. The digital platform remains focused on curating exciting digital content and currently has more than 100 million annual visitors. For more information, visit: www.allenmedia.tv