“My Views on LGBT are Personal Have Nothing Against Them”= Can’t Stand Them
Adamfoxie blog decided to include this story by the BBC about a Nigerian Comic who is using the LGBT community and the homophobia against them in his country Nigeria, to make money. He figures it would be a great marketing scheme, if he used a ‘negative’ in this case a group(a disliked group by many in his country who do not know or understand what gays really are like) to a ‘positive’ which would be getting people to pay attention to his ad about his upcoming show and thus getting more people to tune in to his ad about the show. But this is a negative and there are no positive in homophobia and sometimes the violence against this group in Nigeria.
No one who knows and understand the LGBT community would ever use a depraved way like this to show gays and thus bring to attention to his comedy show. Understanding that the more we criticize it the more successful he might be, still is necessary for everyone to understand his intentions, particularly all those gays in Nigeria who are in the closet and can read this and even see his video on the net and decide to make sure none of their money ends up in this anti gay not-funny man.
I thank BBC for bringing this story to the attention of the international audience and I hope I can put my part by having our readers be aware of this.
The title our blog has chosen for this story is reasserting what this man said and counter saying that those words are the words of homophobic, anti gay individuals. This is the code word use to say I can’t stand you but I am too much a coward to say it because it might be wrong ["I have my own views about LGBT people," he tells BBC. “It’s strictly personal, I have nothing against them.”].
Adam Gonzalez
No one who knows and understand the LGBT community would ever use a depraved way like this to show gays and thus bring to attention to his comedy show. Understanding that the more we criticize it the more successful he might be, still is necessary for everyone to understand his intentions, particularly all those gays in Nigeria who are in the closet and can read this and even see his video on the net and decide to make sure none of their money ends up in this anti gay not-funny man.
I thank BBC for bringing this story to the attention of the international audience and I hope I can put my part by having our readers be aware of this.
The title our blog has chosen for this story is reasserting what this man said and counter saying that those words are the words of homophobic, anti gay individuals. This is the code word use to say I can’t stand you but I am too much a coward to say it because it might be wrong ["I have my own views about LGBT people," he tells BBC. “It’s strictly personal, I have nothing against them.”].
Adam Gonzalez
In a country in which same-sex sexual activity is illegal and LGBT rights do not exist, a sketch by a Nigerian comedian depicting a gay man who is about to be sexually assaulted has sparked a heated debate.
In the video, a gay man, played by well-known actor and comic Ogusbaba, is seen lying in bed at home looking at his mobile phone when a visitor comes to the door. The visitor is enthusiastically welcomed in - but has unexpectedly brought two heavies along with him, who confront Ogusbaba's character about his sexuality and use threatening language towards him.
As the video draws to a close the gay man is held down on a bed while the other three men threaten to sexually assault him.
The video - which emerged at the end of November last year - was recently reposted on a gossip page on Facebook. There it went viral, and has been viewed more than 390,000 times.
"I have my own views about LGBT people," he tells BBC Trending. “It's strictly personal, I have nothing against them." But prominent gay rights activists have condemned the video.
They include Nigeria's first openly gay pastor, Reverend Jide Macaulay, who was forced to flee the country in 2008 after receiving death threats for his work setting up safe spaces for LGBT Nigerians to worship in.
"The Ogusbaba comedy glorifies and glamorises homophobia. What he is effectively saying to his followers is 'go out and assault gays and let's laugh about it' - this is not funny," says Macaulay, who has launched an online petition calling on Ogusbaba to stop promoting hate crimes against LGBT Nigerians.
"We have documented many cases of violence against unsuspecting gays who meet people via social media or other means and simply agreed to a date or sexual encounter. Social media is being used to entrap gay men," he says.
Sexual rights advocate Bisi Alimi - who was the first Nigerian to openly declare his sexuality on national television, which led to death threats and his resulting move to the United Kingdom - believes the motivations behind Ogusbaba's sketch are clear.
"He [Ogusbaba] wanted it to go viral. He knew the average Nigerian would find it funny and share it," Alimi says. “He knew it would create controversy and be talked about."
BBC Trending
BBC Trending
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