OPINION | Burna Boy should've been cautious before tweeting falsehoods - he does not get a free pass

What Nigerian rapper Burna Boy did, using his platform to spread falsehoods about Nigerian nationals being murdered in SA during the xenophobic attacks in September this year, was plain wrong. And hell yes, he should have apologised.

While this is obvious for some of us, it clearly isn't for others. So let me break down why I believe this was wrong, and how a simple apology could have seen everyone move on to embrace him at the now cancelled Africans Unite concert.

Burna has more than two million followers on Twitter, and his celebrity status puts him in a position of influence among his fans all over the world. So, for him to say his people were killed, contributed to the problem that is fake news. Being a celebrity comes with responsibilities and this includes, among other things, watching what you say and verifying facts before tweeting false and unfounded statements.

I say fake news because police spokesperson Colonel Lungelo Dlamini refuted that any Nigerian nationals lost their lives in the attacks. Instead, of the 12 people killed, ten were South Africans, one was Malawian and the other was Zimbabwean. None of these 12 people deserved to die, regardless of their nationalities, but I felt it necessary to seek verification from police at the time, to ensure that the public spoke from an informed position. 

South Africans are xenophobic and no informed person will try to deny this due to our track record, but to expect us not to hold Burna Boy accountable for his manufactured facts and outrage, just because he is our brother, is a reach. I kept visiting his Twitter timeline amid the public outcry hoping he would do the right thing, but he didn't. And, of course, the endorsement from some influential figures did not help at all.

With this said, I acknowledge that Nigerians were under threat during the height of the attacks, like all foreigners. They have been victims before. But in times when lives hang in the balance, people, especially those as influential and powerful as Burna, must make sure not to spread untruths that could potentially fuel the violence. It's easy to tweet from afar, but when you're in the midst of the violence, only truth should prevail. 

Some have asked, “will his apology end xenophobia?” Of course not. No-one said an apology is the cure to xenophobia. This is about Burna Boy acknowledging his mistake.

But we can kiss that apology goodbye, because we won't get it.

Burna Boy says he experienced xenophobia in 2015. His statement has left me with more questions than answers. 

What do we make of this whole thing then? Was he trying to get revenge for the apparent incident from four years ago? Also, why all this hullabaloo about the public insisting that he must not come to SA until he has apologised, when he said himself he'll never come here “until government wakes the f**k up?”

Lastly, it's ironic that during his Twitter rant, he did the exact thing he says he stands against, when he threatened SA rapper AKA with violence. 

His “African Giant” status requires him to do better. He does not get a free pass.