Public Figures Will Embarrass You
Okay, don’t get me wrong, I’m also subbing myself in the above subtitle. I too have my fav celebrities, fav influencers, fav writers etcetera etcetera. That is why I wanted to hide my face in shame when my ‘favest’ fav Beyoncé’s publicist -Yvette Noel-Schure- posted quite the condescending Instagram Story, in response to Tiwa Savage and Nigerians in general, asking that we stop judging the globally renowned artiste for not speaking out early during the #EndSARS protests & that we didn’t know what she was doing in the ‘background.’ This brought Beyoncé quite the onslaught of social media drags and I could not even type ‘pim’ in her defence. That was a P.R. disaster, and Queen B not too quickly fixed up and released a statement supporting the protests and shining the spotlight on the Feminist Coalition, as well as posting a picture in memoriam of Oke Obi-Enadhuze, a victim of the protests. Her fans still love her and water is wet.

Beyoncé was not the only public figure that was dragged for not shining light on the plight of the Nigerian youths; Burna Boy, Ronke Raji, Luvvie Ajayi, Yvonne Orji and a host of Nigerian-American influencers who make their money using Nigerian culture as their aesthetics, were all dragged in various degrees. Most of them fixed up and started using their platforms for awareness -although, I dare say most of it was performative- while some of them decided that they had coconut heads and were doubling down on their insensitive behaviours, by making more condescending remarks e.g. Mr and Mrs Ronke Raji. The reactions of these public figures to the #EndSARS protests, reinforced what I already knew -that fans do not know public figures as much as they think they do, and that public figures are mere human beings; and just as the human beings in our lives fall short, even your fav celeb/influencer that you thought was so sensible and beyond certain displays of a lack of judgment, could one day ‘fall your hand’.

This is why I was disappointed but not surprised, when I saw some of my favourite influencers and actors commenting heart and muscle emojis, under the recent ‘aspire to perspire if you want to inspire’ posts of BollyLomo -the serial rapist who threatened legal steps earlier this year but did not end up taking the staircase to court- I guess he missed his way and slipped on the staircase to court. Imagine being accused with receipts of different instances of rape and sexual abuse, then threatening to take the victims to court and then eventually disappearing into obscurity, before reappearing and hoping the people forgot all you were accused of doing. There was no form of accountability or apology to the victims; just baptism photos and vibes. Yet, he was given a hero’s welcome in the comments, as if he was just coming back from fighting Boko Haram; there was an especially vacuous comment I read where the lady said she dey for the abuser with her ‘full chest’. Some of the influencers like Kiitana and Odditty deleted their comments after Twitter had in regular fashion, summoned them to answer for their crimes. Meanwhile, Efa Iwara aka Tayo on The Men’s Club kept digging himself deeper and deeper into the hole of stupidity after being asked why he was welcoming back a rapist, his answer being, he ‘doesn’t support “rape” in any form’; he eventually deleted his comment, but not before showing us the reasons why IELTS will keep being a requirement for Nigerians seeking to japa to Canada, and also why Tiara left his behind.

This is not the first time public figures have done stupid things or made stupid or insensitive statements, and gotten away with them. In 2019, Okon Lagos posted a video making light of the rape of sex workers, and we had actresses like Nancy Isime and Linda Osifo kikiing under the deeply disgusting post. During the height of Big Brother Naija, Lockdown season, Michelle Dede the actress, sympathized with the Ozo’s plight of not receiving a kiss from Nengi, and tweeted that Nengi should have kissed him to make him happy; essentially insinuating that Ozo was entitled to a kiss from Nengi. Then there was the viral video of Peter of P-Square taken during the #EndSARS protests, where he stated that he should not have been at the protests because he ‘had nice cars’ and was just there ‘for the people’. The common denominator of all of these occurrences and more like them is that, there would be outrage on the Twitter timeline, but after two days, they’d be forgotten and life goes on. I can see why BollyLomo decided to go into hiding, thinking that time would absolve all his wrongs.

To an extent it did, kinda.

Sure, he was dragged on Twitter, and so were his supporters, however, in addition to the fact that he’s not a household name, his comeback was overshadowed by the socio-political events going on in Nigeria. So, the only people welcoming him back were members of his industry, clout chasing influencers and a few foolish fans. This just goes to show one thing, unless it becomes extremely necessary not to, celebrities will support themselves publicly. Just take D’Banj’s rapey behind for example. Support from the industry may never stop pouring in for BollyLomo, it just would not be so public. He may never be fully ‘cancelled’, and the same goes for his private and public supporters. Most of the supporters and encouragers would be your favs.

I am just here to remind you that you should never expect so much from public figures, because a time would come when they would not live up to your standards. Some of the ‘falling hand’ may be minor and some may be major, but at the end of the day, they will still fall your hand.
['Melody Nduka-Nwosu']
['Rape', 'Celebrity', 'Cancel Culture', 'Stan Culture', 'Public Figure']