Nigerian Afrobeats singer Burna Boy has sparked a wave of outrage online after the singer called out a concert attendee for sleeping during his show. And recently the “Last Last” singer addressed some of the online discourse in a series of Instagram story posts.
“I wasn’t gonna address this but… if you make the pilot uncomfortable in a plane you bought a ticket for, you will be deboarded or arrested as soon as you land. You pay school fees, but you will be kicked out of class if you make it uncomfortable for the teacher to do his job,” he wrote. “My shows have people who have beaten cancer or overcome something very serious, etc, and none of them have ever slept lol.”
He added, “I leave my soul on every stage I get on, even if it’s only 10 people in attendance, and I will gladly be cancelled if we are now in a world where you can treat me like a stripper, slap my ass and tell me to keep dancing cuz you throw $100 at me.”
The discourse stems from an incident during one of Burna Boy’s recent shows where he paused the concert to speak directly to the audience. Videos from the moment, which quickly went viral on social media, show the Nigerian artist speaking directly to one person in what appears to be the front row.
“When I stand up here and I see you here with your girl sleeping in front of me, it pisses me the f*** off, man. So please take her the f*** home,” Burna Boy is heard saying. “Faster, take her home. Take her home.”
“I’m not doing [any] more songs until you take her home,” he added. “Hurry up!”
Though the fans ultimately left the show, social media users were appalled by the star’s actions.
“Shame on him! There could be a whole heap of reasons why she fell asleep, like exhaustion, illness etc or maybe her BF is the fan and she’s just accompanying him. Where’s the compassion?” one user wrote on Instagram.
Another added: “Ticket terms and conditions don’t mention that you have to be awake 🙄”
To fans who accused the singer of laughing about the situation, Burna Boy clarified that he was joking with his band about something else in another Instagram story post.
“Y’all have spun it as usual saying ‘Burna boy doesn’t love his fans’ if you hate me so much either kill me or leave me alone. I’m fighting my own battles, and I never come out here to look for pity or help. I love [those] who love me and respect [those] who respects me,” he wrote. “I sincerely apologize if I’m wrong. I’m not always right, but I feel right about this. Anyway, I’m just human so f*** me.
He continued in a since-deleted rant: “They never post any of the good I do in this world but they go wild and viral when they feel I’ve finally ‘fucked up.’ I’ve seen people who NEVER even acknowledged my existence before now posting how ‘This is Not cool’ or writing think pieces on me now. Everybody on the internet is perfect and holy, except for Burna Boy.”
Following the video’s virality, the sleeping woman in the video came forward on X, tweeting: “I am the girl who was kicked out of the show. I don’t even know where to begin, but that was very embarrassing and humiliating to myself and my boyfriend. Burna Boy could’ve handled that situation better than that. He had no idea what was going on with me and he didn’t even care.”
“I have been mentally, physically, and emotionally drained since my daughter’s dad passed away, and I came to his show to put a smile on my face after everything that has happened. He took forever to come out, and I was tired,” she explained in a separate tweet. “We paid to be there, and if I wanted to close my eyes and sleep, I can do that. It is my money that I wasted not his. And for all of you in the comment section being nasty, how about showing kindness because you never know what someone is going through.”
