"A Misogynist": Group Petitions French Olympic Committee To Ban Sarkodie From Performing At Event
- A human rights group has petitioned the French Olympic Committee to ban Sarkodie from performing on August 9, 2024
- Ghanaian rapper Sarkodie is expected to perform on stage at the Africa Station fan zone event in France during the Olympics
- The group said Sarkodie is misogynistic and putting him on stage would send a wrong signal to women and African people
A human rights group, the New Ghana Social Justice Forum, has urged the French National Olympic and Sports Committee and the organisers of the Africa Station fan zone event to remove Sarkodie’s name from its list of performers.
The Africa Station or ‘Station Afrique’ is an independent cultural event happening simultaneously with the Olympic Games, which started this week (July 24).
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The event, which is to be held at the Stade Robert Cesar in L'Île-Saint-Denis, France, has billed Sarkodie to perform on August 9, 2024.
However, per Citi News, the New Ghana Social Justice Forum has argued that should the organisers of the African fan zone give the rapper a platform, they would be endorsing a 'misogynist'.
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The group argued that certain lyrics used in Michael Addo’s songs, including Jennifer Lomotey in which Kurl Songx featured him, had very misogynistic lyrics.
The group highlighted the line Sarkodie sang about Krobo ladies and a curse of promiscuity, reiterating contentious folklore about young ladies from Krobo in the Eastern Region.
The New Ghana Social Justice Forum noted that referencing that folklore reinforced negative stereotypes about women from the area and portrayed them in a negative light.
The human rights group argued that the Olympic Games, which is widely seen as a platform to uphold human rights, promote women’s development, and set standards for human dignity, cannot permit a rapper whose actions contradict those values.
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In a conversation with the President of the New Ghana Social Justice Forum, Yahaya Alhassan, he told YEN.com.gh that the petition and its likely repercussions on Sarkodie is to serve as a warning to other musicians in Ghana’s entertainment ecosystem to stop using their platforms to insult and harass others.
“And whatever they say, whatever they act, the youth copy or follow them. So we are sending the message that if you’re a musician, you have to exercise some decorum in your words.
“You shouldn’t insult the public, you shouldn’t insult a woman, your music should serve as a role model for the generation. You shouln’t be attacking any person,” he said.
Yahaya Alhassan said he is certain Sarkodie would be prevented from performing in the Olympic cultural event following his complaint.
He has advised the musician to set an example by apologising to Yvonne Nelson for his disparaging comments about her in his diss track.
“We want him to come out and make an apology to Yvonnne Nelson, for humiliating a woman, for insulting a woman,” he said.
Sarkodie’s reaction Yvonne Nelson’s tell-it-all
The group further cited Sarkodie’s purported actions in a memoir written by actress Yvonne Nelson.
Yvonne Nelson, in her book I Am Not Yvonne Nelson, claimed the rapper had convinced her to terminate a pregnancy after he had impregnated her and subsequently abandoned her at the hospital after the procedure was done.
According to the group, if Station Afrique goes ahead to give a platform to Sarkodie, it would be worrying for pregnant women.
The rapper’s outburst after the release of the book in his diss track, Try Me, was also cited as demonstrating his insensitivity and disrespect towards women.
According to the New Ghana Social Justice Forum, giving Sarkodie the stage would send the wrong message to African countries that are still striving for gender equality and respect for women.
Sarkodie opens up on diss track
YEN.com.gh also reported that Sarkodie spoke about his diss song, Try Me, with American media mogul Angela Yee on her show Way Up with Angela Yee.
According to the Ghanaian rapper, Try Me was leaked by people he sent the song to after recording it, admitting that he had never intended for its release.
Instead, Sarkodie said he made the song to vent his frustrations and then went along with things when he found out the trending track had been leaked.
Proofread by Bruce Douglas, senior copy editor at YEN.com.gh
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Source: YEN.com.gh
