Nigerian artist Burna Boy slammed for commentary on Miss SA

by Nomonde Simelane

Nigerian-born artist Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu, who is more popularly known as Burna Boy has caused chaos on social media after he commented on Mia Le Roux, a white woman being crowned Miss SA 2024.

This comes after one of the contestants of the pageant, Chidimma Vanessa Adetshina’s citizenship and identity was called into question by the South African public. Internet users expressed that the model does not appear to represent South Africa, from her name to her social media where she acknowledged her Nigerian and Mozambican roots.

The controversy lasted for more than a month, gaining more and more momentum each day, and many celebrities and public figures spoke out on the issue. At the request of the Miss SA organisation and the permission of Chidimma and her mother, the Department of Home Affairs launched an investigation that revealed indications that Chidimma’s mother committed fraud.

“Prima facie reasons exist to believe that fraud and identity theft may have been committed by the person recorded in Home Affairs records as Chidimma Adetshina’s mother;” reads a statement from the department.

This revelation caused more of an uproar from South Africans as they expressed that Chidimma could not be a South African ambassador as she was not a South African citizen, resulting in Chidimma’s withdrawal from the competition.

After Mia was crowned the new Miss SA, Burna Boy took to his X (formerly Twitter) to share Mia’s picture with the caption “So after all that,” alluding to the fact that South Africans preferred a white woman representing them over a black woman.

Taking offence to his post, internet users responded with various insults to the artist.

Also see: ‘I leave with a heart full of gratitude,’- Chidimma withdraws from Miss SA competition