Local musicians and event organisers have objected to Nigerian Artiste Burna Boy’s inclusion at an anti-xenophobic concert, claiming the star incited hatred with his comments on SA.
In a series of tweets in September, Burna Boy urged black foreigners living in SA to defend and protect themselves against xenophobic attackers. In a now deleted tweet, he also told SA rapper AKA to beef up his security, before giving him the middle finger.
He promised to never set foot in SA again until the government “wakes the f*ck up and really performs a miracle”.
A month later it was announced that Burna would be performing in SA as part of the Africans Unite line-up to “unify all Africans and speak out against femicide”.
Ticket listings and promotional material for the event claimed the concert was sponsored by the department of sports, arts and culture and is organised by Play Network Africa, which, according to its website, is based in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, Burna Boy has announced he will contribute a portion of the proceeds from the concert to the victims of xenophobic attacks.
“I really hope we can all keep contributing in our own way to make the world a better and safer place for each other. Africans unite, it’s bigger than all of us,” he wrote on Twitter.
Rapper AKA responded to the decision by suggesting that most of those contributions will then go to South Africans because they were the biggest victims of the violence.
“So for the most part, he’ll be donating to South Africans. Weird,” he wrote.
AKA and South Africans demand an apology from the African Giant who is set to perform at the Africa unite concert on the 24th November 2019.