14th November, 2021
By Nehru Odeh
Love her or hate her, Tiwa Savage is indubitably the queen of scandals. Not only does she assail our sensibilities with one raunchy video/photo or the other whenever she likes, she does so with panache, unapologetically.
Welcome to the life of Tiwa Savage, aka, Mama Jam Jam, aka Queen of Afrobeats, who set the internet on fire recently with her leaked sex video. The video elicited wild criticisms from the public, yet many celebrities also rallied around her.
Still, Savage’s salacious video is one of many that have fed our curiosities lately. However, the interesting thing about these lewd visuals is that not only do they trend on social media but have also become the trend.
The trend? Sure. The Isale-Eko-born, British-trained singer is leading the pack of a new class of celebrities, “sexebrities” or nudist forming before our very eyes.
Celebrities who don’t give a damn if their nudes are in the public space; if their privates are in the public. Celebrities who go all out to make sure that their nudes are out there.
Celebrities who post their nudes themselves because they have a morbid desire to trend. And if your sex video or raunchy photo has not gone viral, then you haven’t arrived.
And everybody wants to arrive. Everybody wants to trend. That’s why they are celebrities. That’s what inflate their egos and sell their “market.”
However, one interesting thing about these videos is that the dramatis personae are unabashed about them. Not only do they put on bold faces, they put those videos right in our faces in a manner that connotes a nonchalant attitude.
Indeed, celebrities posting their video, whether willy-nilly or not, is now the vogue. At no time other than recently have they derived joy from seeing their raunchy videos or nudes in the public.
Sometimes they release the videos themselves, as a form of owning their stories, of rebellion, of not giving the blackmailers power over them. Sometimes, too, they say it is a simple mistake.
Celebrities that have offended the sensibilities of many and entertained others with their raunchy videos or photos are legion. They include, Angel Smith of the BBNaija Fame, Cross of the BBNaija fame, Etinosa Idemudia, Nollywood actress and social Influencer, Toke Makinwa, radio personality and television host, Nengi of the BBNaija fame, Tacha, also of the BBNaija fame and Queen Salawa Abeni.
Angel Smith, one of the five finalists in the just concluded reality show, BBNaija Season 6, makes no bones about her nudes. One of her several escapades in the house was when she flashed her private part on live TV when changing her clothes, after an eviction show.
Angel did it in the presence of Cross, Queen and Whitemoney. Whitemoney, who later won the show, while reacting to it, said she was a marketer and was doing her duty as a marketer.
Angel has also been quoted as saying that she doesn’t care about her nudes being leaked outside in an old tweet; after someone had threatened her and she gave him the go-ahead to release the nudes.
Cross, another former housemate had shown his manhood to Angel while drunk by stripping naked. Angel on her part was seen laughing and blushing after seeing Cross’ private part. That was fun enough, indeed.
Cross also recently mistakenly posted his nude on Snapchat. Though the video has been deleted, his tattoos and penis were in full display. While reacting to the backlash it engendered, Cross said it was a simple mistake. “It was a simple mistake it wasn’t a big deal, it was a mistake,” he averred, adding that he was still trying to get accustomed to the life of a celebrity, which he wasn’t used to.
No big deal? Certainly. So it was with Etinosa Idemudia, Nollywood actress and social influencer went naked on March 2019 on MC Galaxy Instagram live video. When asked why she did it, she said she was high on alcohol. Etinosa, who sounded unapologetic about her action, said she wanted to be ‘expressive’ with her body.
“I know my boyfriend has logged in to see what is going on. Thunder will fire my boyfriend. I am ready to end the relationship,” she added as she rained insults on him.
Asked how the video had affected her personality and her career in an interview, she said: “Emotionally, yes it affected me. Psychologically, maybe, yes. It had positive and negative effects, mostly positive and I’m happy about that.”
The sex tape of former BBNaija housemate, Nengi went viral on August 2021. According to the Senior Special Assistant to the Bayelsa State Government, it was her former boyfriend, one “Naughty Kay” who leaked the video. The video went viral eliciting a backlash. Many indeed were miffed by what they believed was unbecoming of a government official.
Tacha’s nude photos was released in 2020 by someone she said had tried to blackmail her. However, the Rivers State-born reality show star said the photos had been edited before they were released.
Toke Makinwa was threatened by blackmailers in 2020. Though they released the photo, Makinwa said it was photo shopped. She went ahead herself to release the photo on Instagram.
Popular Nigeria artiste, Queen Salawa Abeni also released her nude photos herself in 2020 after a 19-year old blackmailer had threatened. According to the singer she was in the hospital with her partner when they snapped the photos. She released the photos herself because, according to her, she won’t allow anybody bully her or take her power away from her.
Though Abeni, Makinwa and others had the luxury of releasing their nude photos or raunchy sex videos themselves, though had the opportunity of beating their blackmailers in their own game, Savage didn’t, even though she threatened to release it herself because, as she said, she was crazy. Though Savage called the blackmailer’s bluff, like Salawa Abeni, he (the blackmailer) make good on his threat and released the sex video.
Why Savage’s video tops the rest
Though Savage’s sex video is very brief, what controversial OAP Daddy Freeze famously called “10 powerful seconds”, it is a bomb.
One of the reasons why the video is so powerful is the emotions and passion Savage betrays in it. One could see that not only is she in cloud nine, her eyes and facial expressions betray it, as though she was having the fun of her life and enjoying it.
Many liken the brevity of the video to the big bang that some scientists believe was how the earth was created.
Another reason is that the video shows Savage’s face clearly, though the boyfriend’s own is not there. The fact that Savage owns up to it and the face is unmistakably hers explain why the video went viral and elicited a lot of reactions.
Still, even before the blackmailer released the video, Savage had herself alerted the public about it in an interview with American OAP, Angie Martinez of New York’s Power 105.1 FM. So the public was waiting for it with bated breath. When it was released many could not wait to watch the highly anticipated video.
Savage herself is the Queen of Afrobeats. Not only does she have very fanatical fans who are ready to stick out their necks for her, she is naturally endowed with features that many fawn over. That also explains the reason why many wanted to see the video and while it engendered a lot of reactions. No sex video has elicited more reactions than Savage’s in recent times.
In October, Google announced the emergence of that sex video as among the top trending searches on Google that month. That goes a long extent to show how powerful that video of 10 seconds is and why Daddy Freeze calls it “10 powerful seconds”. It also shows why it tops all the top sex scandals that have assailed our sensibilities in recent times.