White celebrities that black South Africans don’t play about

by Nomonde Simelane

The entertainment industry has brought about many celebrities over the years for South Africa, both locally and internationally. Over the years, the black community has selected a handful of white celebrities that they absolutely do not play about, for known and unknown reasons.

With the infinite amount of celebrities Mzansi has seen over the years, with a majority of them being black, there are a handful of white celebrities that managed to gain the black community’s unwavering favour, granting them what is referred to as the ‘honorary black card’.

If I could compare this list to anything, I would call it the Mount Rushmore, or the Avengers of white celebrity to black South Africa.

Diana, Princess of Wales (AKA Lady Di)

Diana, Princess of Wales/ Picture: X(formerly Twitter)

Being raised by my grandmothers, and then growing up to be on social media, I’ve learnt that the black community has a strong allegiance to Princess Diana. This obviously comes as no surprise, as she was regarded as ‘The People’s Princess’ and was adored globally. However, as a black South African, I have always wondered where this adoration that has been passed down from one generation to another stems from.

True story: One of my aunts unofficially changed her name to Diana, because of her love for the princess. Born Nomvula, she is now known as Diana to the masses, which I find to be quite fascinating.

Johnny Clegg

Another oldie but goodie, singer-songwriter, dancer and anthropologist Johny Clegg loved South Africa’s black community just as much as they loved and continue to love him. His legacy is characterised by fond memories, as he fully immersed himself in local cultures, earning the nickname  Le Zoulou Blanc and ‘Umzulu omhlophe’ which translates to ‘the white Zulu’, for his incorporation of Zulu music and dance in his work.

Johnny Clegg also played an important role as an anti-apartheid figure in Mzansi’s music scene

Danny K

This entry is a more recent one, but is still a throwback, as Danny K was a big thing back in the 2000s, back when I was still a hormonal pre-teenager. It could’ve been his collaboration with fan-favourite Mandoza, or something else, but Danny K will go down in history as one of the black community’s most loved celebrities. It could also be attributed that Danny was the first of his kind, our very own Justin Bieber-like celebrity.

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