Burna Boy’s Latest Controversy Underscores Purchasing Power As A Tool For Redress

Since Burna Boy sauntered into the Afrobeats scene, well over a decade ago, he has established himself as Nigerian music’s chief enfant terrible. He is often as guilty of puckish and juvenile infractions as he is of ones that can only be described as malevolent. As such, in his long career, he has been mired in several scandals and faced welters of criticism. After a fleeting moment of pause from his frequent pugilistic actions, Burna Boy currently finds himself in one of the biggest scandals of his career, one that threatens to unravel the momentum he has accumulated over the past few years. In the past few days his every action has seemed to be freighted with added consequence, the littlest of actions now seemingly capable of either placating the tempest of the last few days or exacerbating it.

His troubles began about two weeks ago when with sadistic abandon he ordered a fan and her partner out of his show at the Red Rocks Amphitheater in Denver for sleeping while he performed. “Please take her the f*ck home. Fast, Fast. Take her home. I’m not doing no more songs until you take her home,” he thundered over disapproving boos from the audience.” Until the lady and her partner, visibly enervated, were escorted out by security, he dawdled onstage, his band playing softly in the background. Not long after, clips from the event stirred holy indignation on the internet and fans began calling him out and demanding that he conduct himself with some contrition.

At this point Burna Boy either had no sense of the volatility of the situation or was affecting gleeful indifference because shortly after, he posted a video berating his fans. “Zero gbezome. I tell una say make una be my fans? Me wey dey look for fans wey get money this period.” As he trounces around the room with his hands in the pockets of his blue hoodie, Burna Boy and five or so other men in the room let out bellicose laughter. 

In a screenshot circulating online, purportedly by the lady Burna Boy marched out of his show, she explains that had had a tough few days. Her son’s father had recently died. Work that day had been grueling. On top of that, Burna Boy took the stage later than scheduled. As such by the time the show was underway she was exhausted and had to quickly rest her head before popping back up to claim whatever entertainment her VIP ticket still offered. The screenshot further claims that the incident has caused her immense emotional distress. 

In the past few days criticism against Burna Boy has ramped up to a fever pitch. TikTok is awash with clips from a motley group of indignant fans. Some of the clips speak directly to the incident, others feature indignant fans performing the quasi-political act of canceling their tickets to his concerts. Internet sleuths have also busied themselves with reviving old controversies: there’s the series of tweets and Instagram stories posts from 2022 in which Ghanaian rapper Shatta Wale, a former friend of Burna Boy, claims they both raped each other’s girlfriends. There has also been that infamous clip where we see him summon his security to cart a fan away because their face didn’t look “encouraging.” There’s Burna Boy’s 2022 Eko Atlantic show where he berated and gaslighted his fans after arriving some eight hours after the show was scheduled to start. As an apology, he dispatched an  incoherent patchwork of grievances—“Una say I kill people for Cubana, you say my mama dance for Fela”—before signing off with a  very decorous “If you no like me, na God go punish you.”

What has especially made the backlash from Burna Boy’s international fans especially intense is that details of many of his missteps, which had previously been sequestered to Nigerian media, have begun to violently percolate within his international fans. Several American media personalities have also commented on the situation including Joe Budden who wistfully recalled Burna Boy at the height of his powers just after Last Last dropped, and DJ Akademiks who joked about how many free tickets he’s been able to get thanks to the situation. Days ago, amid a welter of fake news claiming Burna boy had cancelled his entire US tour, he cancelled shows in Minneapolis and Chicago. Many observers have chalked up these cancellations to audience fatigue in these areas and yet it’s hard not to draw a straight line between the intense scrutiny he finds himself under and these cancellations.

By way of a series of Instagram Story posts Burna Boy has started to affect contrition, but not without a dash of gaslighting. Consider one in which he compares himself to a pilot. “I wasn’t gunna address this but.. if you make the pilot uncomfortable in a plane you bought a ticket for, you will be deboarded or arrested as soon as you land,” he writes. In two recent posts however he’s uncharacteristically remorseful. “I Sincerely Apologise if I’m wrong, I’m not always right but I feel right about this. Anyway I’m just Human so fuck me,” one reads. In all of this one thing has become clear: Burna Boy’s contempt for his Nigerian audience is as much a function of economic factors as it is his inherent belligerence. 

As one of the most prolific touring acts from this part of the world Burnaboy’s Nigerian fanbase make up a fraction of his audience. His relentless touring circuit typically sweeps across Europe and America, shoring up millions of dollars in revenue. Nigeria barely contributes to his income—since 2022, he has not held a paid show in the country. To say nothing of the fact that streaming revenue from the Nigerian audience pays several times lesser than international audiences. As such, despite his many infractions, his Nigerian fanbase are short on economic levers with which they can attempt to call him to order: you can’t boycott his concerts if he doesn’t hold them in the country to start with. 

“Me wey dey look for fans wey get money this period,” he bellows in that clip. The fans with the economic cards have begun acting against him, and now he’s scampering around to save the situation. Compare that to how he heckled at his Nigerian fans after keeping them waiting for over eight hours. For decades, well-meaning fans and cultural commentators have mused about what could be done to get Burna Boy, one of Nigeria’s finest acts, on his best behavior. Turns out we only had to threaten his money.