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Calm Down! Stop Pitting Celebs Against Each Other

By Akinwale Akinyoade

08 December 2019   |   10:38 am

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We all need a bit of drama in our lives now and then. Let’s face it, many of us enjoy a juicy feud, a war of words, a back and forth, heck, even a catfight if it has to get to that. We dig the drama even more if it has nothing to do with…

Calm Down! Stop Pitting Celebs Against Each Other | Image: 36ng

We all need a bit of drama in our lives now and then. Let’s face it, many of us enjoy a juicy feud, a war of words, a back and forth, heck, even a catfight if it has to get to that.

We dig the drama even more if it has nothing to do with us and has everything to do with a famous person. Scratch that, make it two celebrities and you have your dinner table conversation served!

We may not get a physical confrontation but what best describes that giddy feeling of scrolling through your Twitter feed to see Davido and Wizkid trending because of an alleged beef?

You jump right in and pick a side, even go as far as coming up with the perfect pithy tweet to join in on a conversation you know nothing about. Of course, it is juicy to argue about who has a bigger bum between Tiwa Savage and Yemi Alade. You even argue that Alade’s post about bums has to be a direct shade at Tiwa, why? You were standing next to her gisting away as old friends when she wanted to share the post and in case we didn’t know, she whispered it into your ear that it’s a shade directed at Mummy JamJam.

On the international scene, we have seen a Beyonce vs Rihanna, Nicki Minaj vs Cardi B, Jessica Chastain vs Jennifer Lawrence, Jay Z vs Kanye West, among many others.

However, have we stopped for a moment to ask why we crave for drama between our celebrities so badly, particularly when there is none? Entertainers tearing each other apart is a narrative pop culture loves to promote and in some cases, it even works in the favour of the artists (think of the recent rap feud between rappers, M.I Abaga and Vector).

In a slow week, it is not unusual for the media or the fans to make up these “feuds” to stir up drama and add an extra bit of spice to life. Stay patient, Bobrisky will do something outlandish to get you talking soon enough.

The idea of creating non-existent feuds between entertainers is not only problematic but by focusing on the “drama” between them, we often ignore some actual issues facing the entertainment industry that needs to be addressed. Yes, we get it, Davido didn’t get featured on the Beyonce-curated album, The Lion King: The Gift but that does not mean he isn’t doing well for himself with a Chris Brown feature, Blow My Mind or the follow-up, Lower Body.

Many times, we have had to force our celebrities to take a stand and shut down rumours of a rift between them and the artist we have pitted them against in our head.

Davido in 2013 while speaking of the purported beef between him and Wizkid said, “I have a lot of respect for Wizkid and his last single is one of my favorite jamz right now. I seriously don’t know why people always raise the issue and ask me if I’m cool with him. I thought by now they would be tired of it.”

On his part, in an interview with Olisa Adibua titled “The Truth“, Wizkid also said an innocent tweet from him about doing proper shows was misconstrued by fans who were eager for a beef.

At the time of the 2014 interview, Wizkid had said:

“That situation was just funny to me because we were all on the same flight. I got back, I was really tweeting about my show, I was talking about myself. I had a show in New York before that, that was like a year, two years ago, it was sold out, sound was bad, venue we used was crazy….it was bleeped up. I land for airport nah, I was going to my hotel, drove through the venue, I saw my name in shining lights, and I was like “Wow! This is me?” I came down, took a picture, posted it saying I do proper shows, proper venues. People started catching feelings.”

Tiwa Savage shut down rumours of a rivalry between herself and Yemi Alade about who is the bigger African female music star by congratulating Alade on the release of her album, Woman Of Steel.

If there is anything we have learnt about pitting these celebs together, it is that we all need to calm down and recognise that everyone has got crowns.

These people are killing it out there and no amount of shade is going to dim their ‘shine.’ You are on the losing end because you spend so much of your ‘cheap data’ on these unnecessary dramas, think about it.