Revisiting failed publicity stunts by Kenyan celebrities on social media

Kenyan celeberities have perfected the use of social media

Before dropping his new single last week, Ghipuka artiste G-Kon posted a photo of himself and sassy singer Victoria Kimani on a popular artistes’ WhatsApp group in which Bamboo, Victoria’s brother, is a member.

The post created such a buzz as tens of artistes took sides. Bamboo did not sound happy. He did a meme, posing G-Kon next to a ‘beat’ looking man. This spread like bush fire making G-Kon the highlight of the day.

“G-Kon, you can release the song now. All the attention is on you,” an artiste commented. Early the next morning (last Friday morning), G-Kon was at Radio Maisha launching his new single after stopping at the Pulse desk to drop the first copy.

This is the same guy who became popular after claiming that he was obsessively in love with petite singer Avril whom he nagged for over a year asking her to accept his love. And he did so before our very cameras, repeatedly, as Avril told him off. Then, he moved from one media house to the other asking showbiz writers to publish the story.

G-Kon will go to any length to remain relevant in his bid to keep afloat in the cutting edge showbiz industry.

And he is not alone. Dodoma Singida singer Moustapha, who is also remembered for the Kupe ‘naked girl’ buzz is the king of publicity stunts.
And it is not just about artistes. What about TV girls, those 9pm prime time news anchors, who post photos of their curvy sexy looks on Instagram, uploading them just before they hit the screen to present the news, as they themselves make news in the social space?

Grace Msalame’s gaffes

Grace Msalame’s social media accounts have probably more followers than the number of people who sit to watch her Graced TV Show. “And what’s wrong with that?” someone asks. Absolutely nothing!
When Hollywood was marveling at Lupita’s cornrows and commending her self-aware campaign to have fellow black girls appreciate their natural hair, Grace Msalame felt the need to question her fashion sense and demanded she fire her stylist.

Msalame didn’t take a second to listen to the bigger conversation. Her initial caption, before a backlash from her followers that forced her to edit, was as follows; “And then she pulled what you could call an authentic Kenyan look for the SAG Awards! I think Lupita needs to call back the stylist she had last year... Just saying... Red carpet failing this year.’
This would have easily been dismissed as an oversight if Grace Msalame’s gaffes stopped there, but there have been many more.

Larry’s little fib

Larry’s straight-shooting interview approach has made his TV show, The Trend, one of the most watched shows on TV. He is a cool chap, brilliant, full of wit and everything successful a young man would dream of. He has cut a niche!

And as it seems, the ever-grinning Larry loves the attention, something critics use to refer to him a publicity hound.

A while back, while on a visit to South Africa, Larry uploaded a picture of himself receiving a kiss from a voluptuous lady with the caption; “Look out for our upcoming reality series, Mich and Larry Take Cape Town, coming soon to a channel near you.”
The bloggers were instantly on his case.

Miss Mandi’s apparent other skill

Rumour has it that Miss Mandi literally threw her lightweight, fellow radio presenter Anita Nderu, into a rage after the latter intentionally blasted out that she would be replaced soon, once Amina came back from her maternity leave.

Miss Mandi seemingly has reservations about being Number 2. She has to be the hot one. Get the flow? She alluded on her Instagram account to what seemed like the usual radio-girl war heated up. It was the picture of Mandi with her tongue out and dreamy eyes, whilst apparently advertising her new cooking show, that got us to think twice about her intentions. We will leave it at that!