Artist Health

Can We Really Trust the Intentions of Tonto Dikeh & Other Nigerian Celebrities Who Photograph Themselves While Doing Charity Acts?

I have watched, within the past year, a rather rapid increase with emails from Nigerian celebrities who pose with the less fortunate or very sick, and  then send  a press release or statement (accompanied with the photos obtained) saying, “I (XYZ Celebrity) visited colleague in hospital who was sick. While there I took this picture. As you can see I am involved in “charity efforts,” please publish,” or “I, XYZ Celebrity, visited an orphan home. Here are pictures, please publish on your platform.”  When I look at many of these images, they lack any substantive  connection to the sick/less fortunate they are allegedly there to visit or help. Also, I wonder do I or  my colleagues need to know you visited your sick colleague while he was in the hospital? How about some private time with you two? Why is that a “charity effort?” Come again?

Amebor.com recently published a short post by author Oluwasparkle. The post included a photo that showed Tonto Dikeh  at the grave of the late rapper Da Grin. She was there to show respect and also drop some flowers. While there,  a friend, it appears,  took a picture of Dikeh and published it on twitter. Dikeh in turn republished the story by “retweeting” it to her fans and the public/media on twitter.

To be fair to Dikeh, she did not directly  solicit press coverage for her visit to Da Grin’s grave. Nevertheless, for those who do these, can we really trust their intentions?  Are some charitable acts better left unsaid and unknown to the public?

What business is it of the public (INCLUDING THOSE ON twitter, facebook etc.) if you  are a celebrity and you visited your colleague in the hospital on his sick bed? Isn’t it awfully wrong you would pose with your colleague that can barely sit up on his bed and then share with the media explicitly asking for publicity. I feel it is.

Do you disagree with me? If so, I want to hear from you.

What if a living celebrity visited a dead one as in the Dikeh case. Do we need to know this? I have been thinking lately and formulating an article, although for the fashion industry, that we are all going completely mad with both the media and social media world. It is like we forget that there are some things that should remain private. . .

-Uduak

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ABOUT THE FOUNDER

Credited for several firsts in the fashion and entertainment industry, Uduak Oduok (Ms. Uduak) is a fashion and entertainment lawyer, speaker, visionary, gamechanger, trailblazer, and recognized thought leader, for her work on Africa’s emerging global fashion and entertainment markets, and the niche practice of fashion law in the United States. She is also the founder of ‘Africa Music Law,’ an industry go-to music business and law blog and podcast show empowering African artists. Her work in the creative and legal industries has earned her numerous awards and recognitions, including an award from the American University Washington College of Law for her “legal impact in the field of intellectual property in Africa." She has also taught as an Adjunct Professor at several institutions in the United States. For more information, visit her at https://msuduak.com.

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