Ade Onibada Made No 10 Downing Street Mad

Ade Onibada is a freelance journalist, producer, and occasional host/moderator. Cutting her teeth at Buzzfeed at the peak of its internet notoriety forms a distinct POV through which virality and the internet can be understood. For that and more, she’s the perfect subject for this column.

Who are you? What do you do? 

My name is Ade Onibada, and I’m a freelance journalist, producer and occasional host/moderator. 

What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?

I check the time on my phone; if I’m lucky enough, it’s a random time like 04:44 am, and I can savour a few more hours of sleep; the other option is that it’s time to get up and be serious about my life. So it’s straight to emails for work-related things, and then to WhatsApp for more work and family/friends. I’m one of those DND people with zero notifications for any app, and have been for years, so I have to actively check to make sure the rapture didn’t happen while I was asleep or that I haven’t missed anything significant. 

What’s the last thing you do on your phone before bed?

Shamefully, some days I fall asleep with the phone in hand, usually dozing off to a TikTok. Most of the time, though, I do one final sweep of messages because I know once the DND sets in, I’m hard to reach. Say a prayer and tap out. 

What’s the app you open the most without thinking?

WhatsApp and Gmail. My life is very work and family-oriented, and those are the two places where they primarily exist. Once upon a time, I would have said the app formerly known as Twitter, but I deleted the hellish app off my phone this year with no plans to reinstall. 

Would you say you have an online persona? What’s it, and how did you arrive at it?

Currently? No, not really. Social media is such a minefield these days, and adulthood has stunned me into silence, so I am nowhere near as active on it as I used to be, especially when it was central to my work as an internet culture reporter. So maybe I come off more mysterious than I actually am? I want the record to show that it’s not intentional; if I come off mysterious, it’s not on purpose; I’m just lazy and social media has always felt like work to me. I think that at the height of my work, it was a lot more clearly identified. I tried to balance using it professionally because it’s essentially your calling card when sourcing stories and finding contributors. So my persona was: ‘media professional.’ But I would also use it as a real person with various interests, including political commentary, cultural commentary, Love Island commentary, and commentary on commentary. Now I feel much more like a spectator who occasionally participates. 

How do you use the internet: for work or pleasure?

At the start, it was purely pleasure, but given my line of work, it hijacks everything once you enter the workplace. Most journalists end up with private alt accounts where they can talk shit freely and close ranks. But things are changing so much; every corner feels saturated with people trying to sell you something or make you download another app to perform the most basic tasks. There’s also this consistent sentiment that implies we should all be finding ways to make money by existing on here, and if you aren’t, then you’re a dullard. I think the greatest gift of the internet that still makes it pleasurable is discoverability, the ability to find people who are still utilising their free will to give us content that’s funny, insightful, entertaining, and all of the things the world needs more of. 

What rules do you live by on the internet? 

• Don’t share what you are not ready to invite [unsolicited] commentary on.

• Children should not be on the internet.

• Never feed the trolls.  
• Any video that starts with a man sitting in his car and whose first sentence is: “My issue with females…” or something to that effect, it’s an immediate block, because what are we doing here?

What moment or episode in your life would you say captured the essence of the internet?

Going viral while working at BuzzFeed, and having to report on it. It was all very meta and sort of broke one of journalism’s fundamental principles: “The journalist should never be the news.” 

Do you remember the first time something you posted went viral? What was it, and how did it make you feel?

Yeah, I think it broke my phone with the amount of tags I was getting, because I ended up on the Shade Room, a few British tabloids, and The Wendy Williams Show, which I now use as my fun fact whenever I’m forced to do those cringy icebreaker exercises. I was at a chicken shop in South London where they had a half-wall poster of the actress Skai Jackson. I thought it was funny and innocently tweeted something like: “I wonder if Skai Jackson knows her image is being used to sell fried chicken in London,” posted on the app formerly known as Twitter, along with a photograph I took of it. It’s important to note that I did not @ her; it was never my intention for her to see it, but everyone else did. She saw it and was understandably pissed because they clearly hadn’t cut her a cheque. 2 days later, someone sent me a photo update, and the company had quickly covered up her image with some make-shift poster, so I assume they received one hot legal letter to make them act fast. It somehow became a news story that Wendy recapped during her ‘Hot Topics’ segment, with my Tweet on her big screen. Needless to say, I am probably not welcome back in that chicken shop. 

What’s the most outrage you have ever generated over something you posted? How did you react to it?

I tend to play it relatively safe online and save my more controversial thoughts and opinions for my group chat, with friends, the way God intended. Funnily, the most ‘trouble’ I can recall was in internal comms at Downing Street. I attended a Black History Month lunch, as was tradition, meant to be hosted by the Prime Minister, who at that time was Boris Johnson. However, on this occasion, after stringing everyone along all evening, he didn’t actually turn up and sent another minister in his place. I tweeted about his no-show, and it picked up some traction and criticism. The following day, an insider at No. 10 sent me a not-so-happy message that my tweet had circulated the press office and made the PM look bad. Needless to say, I’ve never been invited back lol. Sensing a theme here. 

So is nobody going to tweet about attending the Black History Month reception yesterday? the one at Downing Street hosted by the PM Boris Johnson…The one where he…..didn’t turn up?

Nobody? okay. Well I went in a work capacity. pic.twitter.com/bgRnGXjhdW

— . (@SincerelyAde) October 11, 2019

I found the entire thing quite funny because, as I see it, I simply did my job. I reported on what occurred. But are you really a journalist if you haven’t pissed off a press office?  

What’s your favourite social media platform? Why?

Pinterest. All media, minimal social. Just the way I like it. It speaks to the arts-and-crafts kid in me, the one who liked to cut out pictures from catalogues and magazines of things she wanted for her birthday. 

YouTube or TikTok? Which do you prefer and why?

 I’m going to go with YouTube. However, the algorithm has been less curated in recent years (somebody please sort it out), I still feel like it has less slop than other platforms, speaking exclusively about the corners of the internet I reside; it feels like there’s a higher barrier to entry, and creators are more conscious about what they upload there. Most of all, unlike TikTok, it has a natural endpoint, a moment where you can conclude that it is enough, and you are satisfied. I actually feel really strongly about removing infinite scroll as a feature. In my regime, every application would have an endpoint. 

What was the last meme you saved?

It’s not been memed just yet, but it has strong potential as a sound on TikTok. I saved it because it is all I can think about in this new year, and who doesn’t love Auntie Bemi?  https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNRNtRKF6/

The alternative one is this meme, which is self-explanatory, really and also captures my energy for this new year.

What is your guiltiest online pleasure?

The Quan Millz literary universe. He does live readings of passages from his books on TikTok, and this man’s brain should be studied. And maybe search his hard drives, I’m sure we’d find some interesting things. Some of his popular titles include: “Pregnant By A YN Crashout Alien From Mars,” “Crack Hoe Dreams,” and “Old Thot Next Door.” He’s a Black American author, but I genuinely believe he has Nollywood potential if someone were willing to take a chance on him. Somebody get him and Toyin Abraham in a room and make it happen. 

What was the last rabbit hole you fell into?

I’ve been really good at avoiding rabbit holes as of late; my relationship with social media is more functional and search engine-like, and rabbit holes just quickly turn into hours of endless scrolling. I must admit, I was captivated by the ‘Danish Deception’ storyline last year. Because what do you mean, a European man scammed an Igbo woman? Have we learned nothing? It was a lazy rabbit hole, thankfully. You like enough videos, and the algorithm will keep serving you the full course on a silver platter. I had enough restraint (and time sensitivity) not to watch all 20-something parts, but I did enjoy all the summary videos, recaps, and think pieces it inspired. 

What’s the most interesting thing you’ve learned online recently?

I’’m a history nerd, and one of my favourite genres of social content is anything that feels like a niche repeated format. Journalist/critic Touré runs a series called ‘White Passing’ Hall of Fame, where he does a deep dive into celebrities and historical figures who actually have Black heritage. A recent one was about a civil rights activist named Walter White (haha), who in the 1920s would routinely pose as a white man, staying at ‘whites only’ establishments, going undercover in white communities, even infiltrating the KKK to interview and document white supremacy directly from the perpetrators. His work as a ‘racial spy’, as Touré dubs it, meant he was able to provide critical accounts and documentation on lynchings and race riots, including the destruction of Tulsa’s Black Wall Street. His work was essential to the development of anti-lynching laws. 

Some other figures that feature in the series include J. Edgar Hoover, the first director of the FBI, who appears to have had more than one secret life. Iykyk. 

What’s a corner of the internet you’re obsessed with right now?

Substack has been fun to rediscover. I think I’d say it’s filling the gap that Twitter [RIP] once did when it comes to capturing thoughts, ideas, and meaningful discourse for an audience of like-minded people. The media landscape has undergone a dramatic shift over the past two years, and we’ve lost many great newsrooms and publications. A casualty of this has meant that several Black women who were previously staffed journalists have lost their jobs as a result. Substack is where I’m seeing some great reporters resurging and publishing without the politics of a newsroom. 

‘Make People Read Again,’ while it’s not as catchy as MAGA, is so, so crucial, as more people seem to be willing to delegate their thinking to A.I. Some Substacks I’m loving include ‘Pop Syllabus’ by Christiana Mbekwe-Medina, ‘Musings and other things’ by Sade Onabowale and ‘Flesh World’ by Jessica DeFino.

Which Nigerian creator do you think the world needs to see and hear more of?

I really enjoy ‘Yadiegottiktok’ and ‘Aidasville.’ You never know where they’re about to take it, but I can always count on them for a great hot take. 

Who is the coolest person you follow, and the coolest person who follows you?

Coolest person, I would say, is Chinasa Anukam of ‘Is This Seat Taken.’ I think she’s fabulous. We met on set when she was filming in London last year, and she was exactly as I thought she would be (complimentary). 

I’ll say it, Prentice Penny, the showrunner for Issa Rae’s ‘Insecure,’ which is pretty cool to me. That show means so much to me, and I consider this to count as one degree of separation from Issa Rae. 

What is your favourite Nigerian podcast? 

Unfortunately, I am very much into gbeborun, and I’m a big fan of Nigerian women achieving, so naturally, eswiss [ISWIS]. Honourable mention to Carnivores by CC for serving editorial gbeborun.

Have you ever hooked up with someone you met online? 

No. 

Five people you’d love to see answer these questions.

Teni The Entertainer 

Korede Akinsete 

Aidasville

Vince Staples 

Nissi Ogulu