What started as a conversation about meeting one’s favourite celebrities has taken a twist breeding into fierce debate about the intricacies of fan and celebrity interaction while bringing up a hilarious twitter challenge.
By Andile E Khumalo, Earground
A bit of background to the story. A twitter user stated that their encounter with Ammara Brown was not pleasant because she was rude to them and Ammara responded.
‘’ I rejected 95% of selfies that day because there were thousands of people and I had no security…. I am not sorry”’
Her response has become the main bone of contention among twitter users with some labelling her as a mean celebrity while other have come to her defence.
The day in question would be back in November 2017 when Zimbabweans went to the streets demanding the resignation of the former president. Most will recall that throngs of people turned for the street parties that day and expecting the singer to take selfies with anyone who asked her would be asking the impossible. This has been the argument made by fans coming out to her defence. One such user came called out people’s entitlement to celebrities.
“You guys are so entitled now, she doesn’t owe you a hi if she doesn’t feel like it.”
Followers chimed in by saying they think she reserves a right to refuse selfies to anyone. Several more expressed similar sentiments with one replying that when fans appreciate an artist’s music, they should not feel like they can ask for demands.
The other half were triggered particularly by the last part of Brown’s statement. The sentiment was that the. “I’m not sorry” part in her reply was mean. People felt that she could have just said she was sorry for the unfortunate encounter and moved on. As a someone whose job involves interaction with excited and even sometimes not so polite fans, she should treat people better. One user responded by saying the complaining fan was not angry about the selfie but more about how she was she was made to feel.
“if you paid attention to her tweet…. You made here worthless by taking selfies with a superior group of people.”
The security of celebrities is an important subject particularly for female stars. While protecting one’s valuables may be a reason for security, women need it for more reasons as they are vulnerable to predatory behaviours like sexual harassment.
They have been previous reports of unruly fans who have grabbed female celebrities inappropriately. Beyoncé once was almost grabbed offstage by a male fan during a performance, while model Gigi Hadid had to elbow a fan who tried to lift her up while she was walking on the street. In light of this it is clear that the Akiliz singer was being extra cautious and shouldn’t be blamed for it.
Despite which side people took on this debate, most also had fun with the starlet’s comments on security. The hashtag #AmmaraSecurityChallenge has since taken shape. In the challenge, people are satirically justifying not doing certain things because they had no security.
One user tweeted he didn’t do dishes today because he had no security
While another employed some beautiful word play in their tweet about not responding to 95% of their message because they have no security.
There have been dozens more of these light hearted jokes that have come to define the banter of the app and Zimbabweans in general.
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