Posted on March 26, 2023

Burna Boy Responds to Backlash After Remarks About Africa and African-Americans

Amber Corinne, Vibe, March 22, 2023

Burna Boy has now clarified his remarks about the African diaspora and returning to the continent of Africa after receiving backlash from social media.

In a video posted via Twitter on Friday (March 17), activist Chaka Bars posed the question “Why is it important that the diaspora come home?” to the Grammy-winning Nigerian artist. Burna responded that African-Americans are unaware of where their roots stem from in Africa.

“Let’s use America,” Burna Boy began before inquiring, “Why do you think the Chinese American has their respect?”

He answered his own question detailing, “The Chinese-American has a base. He knows he’s from China. The Italian-American knows where their grandparents came from in Italy. They know the first person from their family to come to America and start that line to make them Italian-American. Same goes to everyone else except the African-American. {snip}

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Burna Boy then took to Instagram Story on Tuesday (March 21) to clear up what he initially said.

“It’s sad to see that in 2023 there are still such black people who would prefer we stay divided and conquered,” he wrote. “Maybe it’s my accent or something but I never said you are African and not Americans. {snip} You deserve all the Land and reparations you want from America and I’m 100% in support of that.”

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