Sarkodie did not walk away with the BET Award - Report

A source close to the organisers of the annual Black Entertainment Television (BET) Awards has told Myjoyonline.com that rapper Sarkodie who won Ghana's first BET Award at the 2012 edition of the awards left the venue without the award.

The source who was speaking after Sarkodie jointly won the Best International Act (Africa) award with Nigerian musician Wizkid at an impressive awards ceremony Sunday night at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles explained that the actual award will be sent to the artiste on a later date.

According to the source what the various musicians received at the award ceremony are 'dummies' which are used for presentation purposes and most artistes are allowed to take pictures with but cannot take home.

Hip-hop artiste and 2011 BET Awards nominee, Desmond Blackmore known in showbiz as D-Black agreed with the source, in an interview with Myjoyonline.com and also explained that “When the awards are over then they will engrave your name on the award and send it to you. They will send it to him [Sarkodie] with his name proudly etched on it.”

D-Black lost out on the Best International Act (Africa) category to Nigerian musicians D'banj and 2Face Idibia at last year's awards.

Touching on Sarkodie's feat, the Vera singer said “Sarkodie has proven to Africa that music has no language barriers. It's about hard work and prayer. I'm so proud of him and this achievement. It will open the gates wider for Ghanaian entertainers.”

This year's award will be the third time international artistes, including African musicians, have been recognised at the awards. Those three occasions received wide spread condemnation due to the fact that organisers presented the awards backstage.

D-Black said his investigations revealed that not all award winners get the opportunity to receive their awards on stage due to time constraints.

He said organisers explained that the BET Awards has 20 categories of which 10 are presented on stage to make room for the performances on the night and it so happens that the Best International Act (UK and Africa), just like the Best Actor, Best Movie, Sportswoman of the Year and Sportsman of the Year awards are presented at the backstage.

But D-Black was of the view that “out of all the 20 categories, Africa is the only one and they can spare us just three minutes for us to receive the award. It is sad that artistes fly to the US just to receive the award backstage.”

Sarkodie is scheduled to hold a couple of shows in the US and is expected by in Ghana by the end of July with his award, the source indicated.