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| Burner Boy Furious with a Sleeping Fan |
The noise surrounding Burna Boy’s recent concert incident has been loud and predictable. A fan was reportedly “sleeping” in the front row, Burna Boy asked that he be escorted out, and suddenly the artist became the villain of the entire story. But as I watched the reactions pour in, I couldn’t help noticing a pattern that repeats itself every time a major star is involved in controversy: we judge the mighty by standards we would never apply to ordinary people.
Let’s
start with the basics. A front-row concert seat is not a quiet place. It is the
beating heart of the event, where massive speakers, flashing lights, and raw
energy collide. Anyone who claims to be “sleeping” there raises immediate
questions. Was it genuine exhaustion? A deliberate display of disrespect? Or an
attention-seeking stunt?
We may
never know. But I know this: if I were performing—talking, singing, or
presenting—and the person directly in front of me pretended to sleep, I would
feel insulted. It is human nature. It drains your morale. It disrupts your
flow. And it communicates a message, whether intended or not.
So I
understand why Burna Boy acted. He responded as a human being, not as a robot
programmed to ignore provocation.
Yet once
again, the reaction—not the provocation—dominated the conversation.
This is
the burden of fame. When Burna Boy sought police help after being slandered by another
entertainer who insinuated that Diddy’s troubles implicated him, he was
condemned. The person spreading the unfounded accusation practically walked
free in the court of public opinion.
The
message is clear: if you are famous, you must swallow insults quietly. You must
absorb disrespect gracefully. Any attempt to defend your dignity becomes
evidence of arrogance.
This
double standard is not unique to Nigeria. The world saw it play out at the 2022
Oscars when Will Smith reacted emotionally to a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith.
Chris Rock’s comment—hurtful and insensitive—was quickly overshadowed by
Smith’s slap. Rather than acknowledge that even celebrities can be pushed too
far, society demanded that Smith should have been above all human emotion because
he was a “big name.”
It is the
same flawed logic applied to Burna Boy.
The truth
is simple: Celebrities remain human, no matter how large their stages or
how loud their applause. They get offended. They react. They protect
themselves. And sometimes, they make imperfect choices—just like the rest of
us.
But
unlike the rest of us, every gesture they make is magnified through a global
microscope.
If Burna
Boy were an unknown artist, the “sleeping fan” incident would never have made
headlines. But because he is a global force, everything he does attracts moral
judgment, often without context.
I am not
arguing that stars should never be criticized. I am arguing that criticism
should be honest—and fair.
Before
attacking Burna Boy, we should ask more balanced questions:
Why was the fan “asleep” in the loudest part of the hall?
Why must famous people endure deliberate disrespect silently?
And why do we gloss over provocations simply because the target happens to be a
superstar?
Until we
answer these questions, we will continue punishing celebrities not for
wrongdoing but for being human in a world that refuses to see their humanity.
