Entertainers all over the world pass through a lot because of the fame they enjoy. Most of them, though from humble backgrounds, are constantly under the scrutiny of the media. Consequently, at one time or the other, their private life is made a public issue due to scandals or controversies. Anthony Ada Abraham Takes a look at some Nigerian entertainers? who have experienced such bashings due to their fame.
PLANTASHUN BOIZ
Before the effect of their debut album began to wane and rumour was rife that the trio was back in the studio to record a sophomore effort entitled: Sold Out, one of the trio, 2Face had other plans. He was on the verge of launching his solo career at the expense of the group he cofounded.
Despite denials and counter-denials, the crack soon appeared in the wall and they began to drift apart. “Going solo is something that I have to do. I have always told Faze and Blackface that I would have to do this some day. My only fear now is whether Nigerians will accept me. Yes, as a member of the Plantashun Boiz I was already a brand.
The question is, ‘Would they accept the transformation from 2face of the Plantashun Boiz to 2face Idibia?” He had mulled before a close pal.
2 Face
While Blackface took the news of the break-up with philosophical calm, Faze was bitter! He packed his pain into a track entitled: Faze Alone, a reggae piece in which he expressed disappointment and took 2face to the cleaners, insisting the latter had betrayed him. However, the very forces that made 2face soon went into reverse thrust.
The fame attracted women in droves and Innocent Idibia could not but…! With the irresistible looks that could kill, these girls were not only attracted to him; they were ready to do anything for a roll in the hay. It could be said that though the album, African Queen made him, it was also the bedrock of his fall! Many women were at hand to become his African Queen.
With a number of women claiming to be pregnant for him, 2face, who had once been linked to two actresses, Vien Tetsola and Caroline Ekanem, raised the bar when he got three women pregnant at the same time! It started with Sumbo Ajaba who has two kids for him, and later Pero Adeniyi, who had a daughter and a son for him. His present wife, Annie Macaulay is in-charge now.? However, today, she is the proud mother of his daughter, Isabella.
This triggered a series of negative reports in the media depicting the singer as a flagrant skirt-chaser. Overnight, he became the butt of jokes as comedians cashed in on the situation to sell themselves to the public. The name Innocent became synonymous with bed-hopper. Sometimes he even makes jokes out of it himself.
In an attempt to take advantage of the negative hype, he did a song: Enter The Place, as if he was urging ladies to really enter and have a taste! He went on to release an experimental album titled: Unstoppable, but it was a massive failure. It faced distribution and sales problems. Little wonder, the star’s fortunes began to dwindle despite getting sustained airplay. As the controversy gained momentum, 2face parted ways with Kennis Music and set up his own label, Hypertek.
In an interview, while justifying his decision to quit Kennis Music, he declared: “For me, this is about personal development. Hypertek is a move I have to make”. His fans were not left out in the effort to get the star on the track of sanity. On the Internet, a concerned fan posted: Tuface Idibia, AIDS is real! Thank God you have decided to stick to one.
Overwhelmed by negative press, 2face had diplomatically apologised to Nigerians, saying that he was sorry for his misconduct. However, he insisted that he was only being human. He even announced plans for a wedding, but refused to disclose who the woman was and to this day, his marital status is not defined.
In an interview at the height of the scandals, he had stated: “I know people’s expectation of me is obviously not having kids from different women, but the fact is that I love my kids, and I am just going to take care of them. I am going to turn any bad situation to a positive one”.
Rather than distance himself from his many women and kids, he stuck to them and at any opportunity, told Nigerians how much he loved them. In 2008, the negative press became hell bent on putting him on his toes. But he simply dismissed it. In a collabo with MI he warned; “If nobody talks about you then you are nobody”.
Timaya
Many people consider Timaya as an arrogant person, though a good musician. He came to the spotlight about four years ago, but has since been involved in many controversies. The star admitted that he has a dual personality, like most people think. In his words, people see him from different perspectives.
Some believe he is arrogant.”We are naturally actors. Some people can go on stage and act as if they just sniffed cocaine, but they do not even drink alcohol. Some people may not be able to do what you are doing unless they get high. That does not mean that you too would have to get high before you do that thing. The way I act, especially in my videos, gives people the wrong impression that I am a bad boy.
However, I just like the look. I am not trying to paint myself white. I do not even want to create a good boy image for myself. I am not out to impress anybody; there is nothing you do that will please everybody. I like to live my life. In Nigeria, if you are outspoken, people will tag you rude. If you do anything to me that I do not like, I will confront you. I also expect you to do so to me if I do something you do not like. Some people say
Timaya cannot speak good English, but when they listen to me, they are stunned. Just because I sing in pidgin does not mean I am not educated. I feel bad because I was not used to such cruel words, but now, I do not even mind posting nude pictures of myself on the newspapers. It only makes me more popular.
When people see me and think there must be a rifle with me all the time, I just laugh. However, if you try to kill me, I will kill you first. I can’t wait for you to kill me and then go and serve a jail term”. In saying these, Timaya simply shows that even the case with Empress could not weigh him down.
9ice / Ruggedman
In another development, the controversy surrounding 9ice, Ruggedman and Toni Payne was in the media for so long, which? Ruggedi Baba has trashed in a song just released. Calling a spade a spade.
The gossip has been that Ruggedman caused their break-up, but recent developments have made fans believe this with a pinch of salt. 9ice and Ruggedman had a cordial relationship until the former had problems with his ex-wife. In the social network site, Facebook, Ruggedman noted; “I have been called all sorts of names for something I did not do. Fine. People misunderstand but when they play judge and jury without finding out facts, it hurts.
Nevertheless, time will tell. Time to shut the rumour mongers up for good. I have had enough. I asked 9ice to clear it up but he has not. I want this cleared up once and for all”. Mr. Alapomeji dropped another video from his second studio album Tradition. The video, No Be Mistake (directed by Akin Alabi), has most people saying the song is an attack on Ruggedman for breaking his marriage.
Terry – G
Terry Amanyi Gabriel, a.k.a Terry G, a fast-rising producer and artiste is another dude you can always remember whenever controversies are mentioned. Whenever confronted on the various controversies surrounding him, he would only say; “People see another image on television and when they see me on stage, they see a mad guy. Now, it is not about singing any longer.
People need to know who I am. There is a big difference between Terry G and Gabriel. Gabriel is a very shy and good person, who will never forget his roots, even if he is a secular musician. If you are in the public domain, act like a leader. My mum is a deaconess while my dad is an elder in the church. All the things I do outside, I do not do them at home.
Tell me why I will not be responsible. If I do something crazy, my parents may even die. Nobody expects me to be stupid. This is an opportunity to say thanks to God. I always worked for celebrities before now. I know what it means to be a celebrity and I know how to manage it. Sometimes, you do not plan controversies; they just come up because of the events that occur in your life. Some of the controversies are accidental.
They are things you did not plan. Somebody may invite you to a show and if you fail to reach a compromise and therefore miss the show, that becomes a scandal. It is not as if I did anything bad. If you do not have opportunities, there will be no controversies. I thank God for the opportunity.
Wande Coal
Similar to him in controversy is Wande Coal. This top Hip Hop sensational artiste has battled with the scandals surrounding his nude pictures circulated on the internet for some time. And the fall out with Mo’hit. But since the separation, he has been key to new label Marvin Records.
Eedris Abdulkareem
For Eedris Abdulkareem, however, controversies did not stop when he became a focus in the media by fighting or wanting to fight the rapper 50 Cent when he came to Nigeria. He received great criticism both from Nigeria and the international scene, even his song Nigeria Jaga Jaga received negative reactions from the past president.
He said once in an interview:”In a country like ours, where you sing a song like Nigeria jaga jaga and the president comes out on National TV to say that it is the father and mother of the musician that is jaga jaga, this means my message got to the president and the truth is bitter.
I felt that if I told few members of the press what went wrong, not everybody will write the truth, so I decided to come out? with The King Is Back, which tells my story. I went underground to cook the soup very well and bring it back so that people can taste the truth”.
Don Jazzy / D’banj
Recently, the highly respected duo of Mohit donjazzy and Dbanj were in the news for so long. As the two decided to go their separate ways, it came as a shock to industry watchers that this two could end up not together after this years of oneness.
Many say it is due to the deal with Kanye west Good Music led? to break up.? But he has put all that behind and has done him a lot of good with the introduction of Marvin Record…signing big names like Tiwa Savage, Omo Oba, Dr. Sid, Wande Coal and others.
Kelly Handsome
After having very difficult times with his ex music label Kennis Music, and dissing Chocolate city crew, Kelly Handsome was in the news again.
Though his fame cut cross borders but his pains are more than the fame he enjoyed. Following story making the rounds in the media and online entertainment blogs which was first reported by Osaremen Ehi James of Nigeriafilms.com on Saturday, April 21, 2011 that Music superstar, Kelechukwu Ogbonna Orji generally known as Kelly Handsome, whooped and humiliated a journalist, the sweet voiced artiste disassociated himself from the report and promised to deal with the any social media that carries stories that are meant to tarnish his image.
In an exclusive interview with LEADERSHIP SUNDAY threatened to take the case to court and condemned in straight terms all those peddling negative rumour about him.
The journalist who was reported to have written the story which went viral sometimes in May 2011 alleged that Kelly Handsome was seen begging a movie producer for a role in a movie.
The singer denied ever granting an interview to the journalist let alone humiliating him. ‘I’m not surprised someone could pay to tarnish my name. I did no such thing, for God sake and for the record; I hope NUJ does something about this as soon as possible because it is against the ethics of professional journalism. May God bless the press’. Hmmm….what a fame!!!
Mercy Johnson
The scandals and pains that rocked the movie industry were issues that kept one wondering the true life styles of these personalities like Mercy Johnson who was in the news for allegedly snatching someone else’s husband but later went ahead to have the wedding.
Ini Edo
Ini Edo was reported to be unfaithful to her husband but later went public with an explanation to her fans about how much she loves her hubby and how they work together even though he is not based in the country.
Tonto Dike
Tonto Dikeh, who people call controversial, featured in an erotic movie that went spiral and her relationship with Tu Baba and Wizkido was in the news for sometimes. Though lots of people called it publicity stunt, nonetheless she is good at what she does.
Kate Henshaw
Kate Henshaw, the eloquent lady finally divorced her hubby – Nuttal, after facing some marital issues. Though it came as a shock to many, that is what fame brings sometimes.
Fatiah Balogun
Fatiah Balogun, was hammered by her EX, Saheed Balogun, after their lovers’ spat. The break up really baffled entertainment followers in Nigeria.
Omotola Jalade Ekeinde
Omotola Jalade Ekeinde was accused of having an extra marital affair with celebrated businessman Mr. Taiwo Afolabi of the Sifax Group fame. The case was followed up and those involved in the spread of the news were sued. She is the only lady that can boast of four children and happily living with her family.
Though there are loads of them who many have continued to say if they cannot keep their unimpressive lifestyle to themselves instead of leaking it to the public either for publicity stunts which later backfires and have become detrimental to the youth who copy directly what they watch or see on screen and other social media, they shouldn’t complain about anything.
While some have been able to cope with this fame others have not and they don’t give a damn who is speaking.
Finding fame and fortune takes series of painstaking activities, but leaves a lot of expectations on the artistes.