As the world continues to evolve and become more dependent on popular centralised entertainment, the issues of accountability and transparency become increasingly important. More specifically, in the Nigerian entertainment industry, there’s been an unsettling trend towards entertainment industry public figures expressing troubling behaviour and making controversial comments. Nigeria is going through an intense political upheaval right now, and as much as we want to approach politics from a logical standpoint, it is almost impossible for emotions not to come into play.
As emotions come into play, irrational thoughts and decisions become a part of the process. Nigerian citizens who are also supporters of prominent acts on the country’s entertainment scene have placed expectations on some of these acts: they expect them to support the same candidates they support, encourage people to vote, and vote themselves. While some public figures, such as Folarin Falana, also known as Falz, and Adebowale Adedayo, or Mr Macaroni as he is popularly called, have lived up to the expectations of many of their fans by championing social and political movements since the End SARS protests in 2020, others have either expressed political apathy or support for candidates that many people find to be rooted in self-interest and tribalism.
Apart from apathy or the prioritisation of self-interest, there’s also the issue of tribal bigotry that a number of influential figures have displayed in recent times. In January, popular singer Brymo was under fire for hateful comments targeted at the Igbo community. Brymo, who is an open supporter of the All Progressive Congress’ former presidential election candidate and now president-elect, Bola Tinubu, has been vocal about his disbelief in Nigeria’s readiness for an Igbo president at the moment, claiming that an Igbo presidency is a threat to the unity of the nation.
Burna Boy, a celebrity many people expected to be more vocal during the ongoing elections, was quiet for the most part of the process. As an artist who has infused social and political commentary into many of his songs, to see Burna Boy display apathy during these elections left many of his supporters disappointed. After being called out on multiple occasions, Burna Boy came out to air his feelings on the issue. He said, “I dunno why it’s such a big deal to some Nigerians that I’ve not been vocal about the elections. Personally, I don’t have a candidate that I believe in. I’ve never supported any political party or candidate in my life because I don’t want to make you vote and then blame me when the person fucks up as usual. That being said, I hope all votes count and the best man wins.”
Nigerian singer and Fela Kuti’s son, Seun Kuti was not left out of the attacks on social media for expressing his opinions that many felt were ethnically motivated. Before the elections, Seun Kuti described Peter Obi as an “opportunist” and after the election results declaring Bola Tinubu as president-elect was announced, he said, “You wanted the lesser of 3 evils but you got the best.” His statements led to an exchange of words between him and Peter Okoye who called him names, saying he is only living on the glory of his father, Fela, and the Kuti dynasty.
Political apathy, tribal bigotry, and opposing views are a few of the possible reasons we’re looking at in this exploration. What happens when an artist you support does or says something you don’t, should we separate artists from their craft, and what does it take for people to “cancel” an artist they previously admired?
When it comes to someone you support doing something you don’t, many fans like to play the forgiveness card. Their love for the person’s craft often clouds their judgement and they believe that the person can do no wrong. For a lot of fans, it’s less about the artist than it is about themselves. When people have stuck with something for a very long time, it becomes a core part of their identities and cutting off or losing a part of your identity isn’t an easy thing to do; so they make up excuses for the artist or choose to remain in the dark about whatever the artist gets up to; essentially, they stay in denial and choose intentional ignorance. Those not in denial get selective about their love for the artist; they claim to only like the person’s work and not the person themselves. They say things like, “I don’t support what they are doing, but I’ll still listen to their music.” That’s selective acceptance and with that attitude, it enables many artists with a free pass to live as atrocious human beings.
For art to exist it needs to be brought to life by an artist and when an artist creates a piece of art, they ultimately put a bit of their identity into it. If you find the behaviour of an artist you like deplorable, how can you comfortably enjoy their work? Although an arduous task, many people have begun ending their relationships with artists they feel crossed a line or violated a moral position they have. When Brymo made his continuous tribal comments, fans who were in disagreement with him and felt that his opinions were extreme pledged to stop consuming his music. Something similar has happened with artists like Kanye West and R. Kelly who have had former fans stop listening to their music because of hateful speech and sex trafficking charges, which respectively, they were found guilty of.
Cancel culture, the way we know it now, has never been a thing to be applauded. Most times, it stems from a place of toxicity and self-righteousness. But in very specific cases, cancel culture is actually a way to hold artists and public figures accountable for some of the things they do and say on the internet. If we totally ruled out any form of cancellation or targeted accountability efforts, people with a lot of influence would inevitably be allowed to get away with anything they like on the internet. There also needs to be an understanding from consumers that not every artist, creator or public personality you resonate with will have identical values as you; they are human beings and have their own values, beliefs and morals.
The discussion of what it takes for someone to “cancel” an artist they’re currently a fan of boils down to personal conviction. No one is excited about dissociating from something or someone they were once supporters of, but when you ask what is more important in the grand scheme of things, you will most likely conclude that your values take precedence. Then there’s the argument that cancelling an artist doesn’t really achieve anything; it doesn’t directly impact their decisions or change their opinions. While choosing to stop consuming an artist’s work might not make a big difference in the short term, it inevitably leads to a long-term reduction of their brand value if a large number of people do the same thing.
Overall, choosing to dissociate yourself from an artist whose work you previously enjoyed is a decision rooted in your grasp on how the content you consume informs the kind of person you are. While it is easier said than done, it is possible to not continue consuming the art of an artist you used to carry on your head; there is so much art out there and you will survive the initial pain of cutting that part of your consumption off. While it is understandable, the attempt to separate an artist from their craft will ultimately lead to impunity for artists who go off the rails and create a society where talent becomes rewarded with immunity from retribution.