Former BET Director, Ghanaian-American Lilian Blankson is dead

On Sunday, the 4th of July 2021, former BET Director Lilian Blankson was announced dead, barely a week after the annual event had taken place in Los Angeles.

The death of the Ghanaian-American BET Alumni is a big hit to the African music scene as many may or will be left clueless as to who Lilian Blankson is and how instrumental she’s been with the representation of African music at the BET Awards.

In 2010, Lilian Blankson was fully involved in the inclusion of the Best International Act category at the American awards show that celebrates Black Entertainment. For the first time in a decade of broadcast, nominations were given to some of the most talented African and UK Artists, including P-Square, K’NAAN, Estelle, M.I., Kojo Antwi, Sade, and Dizzee Rascal. A year after, BET introduced two separate categories for The Best International Act — Best International Act: Africa, and Best International Act: UK.

Lilian Blankson, who was Director of Programming at BET International, was, among others, instrumental in the selection of these artists. Her pursuit to give African Entertainment a spotlight on the western world made this possible. It was her intention to give African music a lift the very moment she joined the entertainment firm.

Lilian N. Blankson, aged 46, was also the CEO of LNB Entertainment, an author and content creator.

Her last words on Twitter dated June 29, 2021 reads ;

Sometimes you have to eat your words, chew your ego, swallow your pride and accept that you are wrong…. It’s not about giving up – It’s called growing up.

The likes of  Sarkodie, Edem, Wondaboy, Lydia Forson, Margaret Akullo, and others have reacted to her death.