BET director lashes Wizkid, Yemi Alade … ‘You need to upgrade yourselves’

The brouhaha surrounding the Africa category of America’s BET has taken a new twist with the category’s director, Lillian Blankson, coming out to speak to clear the air over the main issue generated by the category, which is that its winners are presented their plaque backstage. But without mincing words, Blankson defended the strategy, saying African music is not on American radio, and until it is, African artists won’t be respected in America. Blasting, encouraging and advising African artists in a series of tweets, she got to shed light on the whole situation, and indicated lucidly that BET is not downgrading African artists and that African artists have to upgrade themselves. “We need to work hard and get our music on the radio here in the US,” she tweeted. “How do people respect your brand when you’re not on the radio? First of all, tell the truth and stop tweeting lies and mistruths. There has never been a backstage presentation of any award. Just pre-recorded. “BET will always signify Black star power. Africa, if we want to be featured prominently, we need to know the facts and be very practical. Nothing has ever come easy to us Africans. But anything worth having will not be a cake walk. Started from the bottom, now we’re here. Also, let’s be a little humble. No one owes us anything. Like everything else, we have to work our way to the top so we can stay there.” Addressing Alade who said BET might as well scrap the Africa category, she said, “Let’s try and keep our category and know the facts. It does nothing to the network to take it away … but it sends us back several steps.” And obviously referring to Wizkid who did not do the press interviews associated with his nomination, she said, “If you choose to fly down and watch the show and not do press, who exactly do you think is affected or missing out? Think about it.” Continuing, she added that “performances sell awards shows and make ratings, not the categories. Let’s step up our game and get our music so big they can no longer ignore it. Out of 19 categories, only 4 or 5 make air. This is standard in awards shows. If the US artists are not outraged and complaining, why are we? “The artists who have been honoured … why haven’t you cleared the air and told the truth about what happened? Why the silence? “BET domestic does not and has never aired African music so to have a category is a major deal. Let’s prove and show them our worth, not anger.”