Sho Madjozi Accuses Organizers of 'Africans Unite' of Using Xenophobia as a 'Marketing Ploy'
The South African rapper has spoken out about why she declined to perform at the now cancelled concert.
Yesterday, the much-anticipated "Africans Unite" concert was cancelled after Burna Boy pulled out of his scheduled performances in South Africa. This comes after South African artists spoke out against Burna Boy performing following his heated Twitter exchange with rapper AKA. While some were disappointed, others felt the exact opposite. Sho Madjozi, who has weighed in on the debate before during the September xenophobic attacks, has once again spoken out. This time, the "John Cena" star has called out against the organizers of the concert, Phambili Media and Play Network Africa.
In a Twitter thread, Sho Madjozi breaks down why she declined to perform at the concert. She accuses the organizers of using the xenophobic attacks as a "marketing ploy" and adds that the concert was never about effecting any real change anyway. The decision to have Burna Boy as the headline act, according to her, was largely because of the controversy he was involved in on social media. Sho Madjozi goes on to point out that bringing Wizkid to performwould have been a more genuine and deliberate move seeing that he was involved in what she feels was a more "constructive" way. She also speaks about the dissemination of fake news and misinformation and what it will take to truly bring Africans together.
What's particularly striking about her Twitter thread is its nuance—something that's been missing in a lot of conversations on xenophobia especially on social media.
Read her entire Twitter thread below:
That was my worry when I declined to perform. Just from the headline act they chose, it was clear that they wanted… https://t.co/M1F3pqtoto— #JohnCena (@#JohnCena) 1574247823.0
As we got closer to the day, the concert was generating even more hostility than unity and the organizers were doing nothing about it.— #JohnCena (@#JohnCena) 1574247824.0
That was further proof that xenophobia was just a way for them to make money. Which is disheartening for those of u… https://t.co/fSJq81PCjg— #JohnCena (@#JohnCena) 1574247824.0
How much damage did it do to African unity when several Nigerian artists claimed Nigerians were being killed in the… https://t.co/pAcn2SXEwP— #JohnCena (@#JohnCena) 1574247825.0
And asking people to accept this misinformation because of the lawlessness that did happen is not going to work. No… https://t.co/1FqPFeNUSw— #JohnCena (@#JohnCena) 1574247825.0
It is also a problem and super ironic to threaten to physically attack someone (AKA) in the name of *ending* violence.— #JohnCena (@#JohnCena) 1574247826.0
To then have an artist who has done both of the above booked without taking any of that back shows the organizers w… https://t.co/9GDUCaZ1Dw— #JohnCena (@#JohnCena) 1574247826.0
