Author: Adewunmi Adeniji

Renowned singer and serial entrepreneur, Mr Eazi reflects on becoming a target of cancel culture following his claim that Ghana had an impact on Nigerian music. On January 11, 2017, Mr Eazi tweeted about the significant influence of Ghanaian music on contemporary Nigerian music, sparking backlash. Numerous fans, colleagues, and music enthusiasts threatened to cancel him in response.

Addressing the criticism in a recent episode of the Afrobeats Intelligence Podcast with host Joey Akan, Mr Eazi expressed that he doesn’t regret his statement despite the threats. However, he expressed disappointment that some individuals he considered friends in the industry joined others in cancelling him instead of addressing the matter privately. The ‘Leg Over’ artist also criticized those who continue to harbour resentment towards him, asserting that his statement was not profound and suggesting that their animosity stems from unrelated reasons. In his words; “When the whole issue with me being cancelled, even till tomorrow, I see people come on my [social media] profile and still throw hate. They said, ‘Oh, yeah, you said that.’ I’m like, ‘Fam, really? This energy take it to your local politician wey dey run you street.’ You feel me? I didn’t kill anybody. I said what I said. “And I said it many years ago. If that is the reason you hate, then you hate me for something else. It’s deeper than that. And realising that just make me feel free. That’s the lens to which I look at e everything. Because I was seeing guys I was saying ‘Hello’ to, coming out to say, ‘F*ck Mr Eazi.’ “And I was like, ‘Bro, you could have called me and say Eazi, I just saw this interview, you shouldn’t have said that. This is what I advise you to do.’ But it just became a thing of let’s all band together. And that’s why in my song ‘We Dey’, I said, ‘Twitter fingers steady showing fake love.’ Because it’s crowd mentality. It’s trendy to hate you, and now it’s like for clicks. “There are people making art and nobody is caring about their life whether they jump or sit. It’s like they are invisible. Love and hate is acknowledgement of your existence, I’m even blessed to be able to invoke something.”