Recently there was this guy who created storms all over the place. They say he’s a Tik Tok comedian who has large followings. He came to the attention of most of us more for the controversies he caused rather than the level of his ‘comedy.’ If you ask me at first, I saw a f few images of him here and there on the social media and thought he was another unlucky person with mental problems and didn’t try to know more. It was after his outrageous actions in Hawasa town and the way he tried to deal with things.
Let me tell you any hotel starred or otherwise which lets him in wouldn’t be about niceness. “Oh they are nice over there. They don’t care how you’re dressed and other things.” No it would be a disrespect of the customers who come to that place.
In the first place I think the way he dressed was sort of a trademark for him. Good for him. But I can tell you seeing him at first that would be the last thought that would come to him, his dressing being a trademark of sorts.
Now the story is he tried to enter Haile Resort and he was denied by the security personnel who were doing their jobs. What did he expect? Dressed like that and given all the things he has been doing (and they call them pranks!) it’s only important to prevent him from harassing pole I the same of ‘comedy!’
Now, if he was a sort of going places he should have been cordial enough to accept the actions of the security guard. In other places he would have ended in the nearest police station bound hand and feet. The guy the vilest thing to do is him complaining that he wasn’t being treated like a person. That was the vilest sales pitch. The hotel of one of the greatest athletes ‘not treating the Napi guy like a person!’ Could you think of more outrageous claims? The guy seem to have have decided to make some breaking news and his Tik Tok following would move earth and sky in anger! Well one thing he misses that after all he has been doing in most places he’s a lucky guy to go away from it all in one piece. I have been told repeatedly he came close to be physically attacked by angry pole and only last minute interventions saved him.
Just think of it; life has never been nice to the young fruit sellers in the streets. They do their best to attract almost every passerby to buy fruits from them. Now this guy comes snatches a banana and eats it! Yes, the guy gobbles up something for which he hasn’t paid and has no intention of paying. Would the youngsters be put in the wrong for getting angry and trying to make their anger known through their fists or whatever? Forget the guy being a sort of muscular fellow. But this is not about physical strength but about protecting their turfs.
Having the b….s to say such things in Ethiopia where an entire country is praying for peace is ironical. That’s what the guy has been doing.
Look this is not about smearing the reputation the guy has elsewhere. Maybe his ways ar more than welcome in other places. But before he came to Ethiopia he should have done his homework about the ways on the people. Trying to raise so much dust because he has been expelled from Haile Resort was bad as bad would go. The news would have been if they had let him to offend all the guests and do what he has been doing elsewhere. He said something about not been treated like a human being. What! What more did he want people to do when they have tolerated his excesses and have been so patient. You are having your meal in some restaurant. This guy just drops out of the thin air and shovels a fistful of whatever you’re having. Could anyone tell me the joke with such actions?
Take when he tried to provoke a uniformed security person In fact it was more of a harassment. The patience of the uniformed person was wonderful. It seems the Napi guy really wanted some real action probably the person attacking him I return. That would make the …flow in doesn’t it? I wonder in which country he would assault a uniformed person and escape untouched.
This person, I tell you, is lucky to have escaped in one piece.
The length some people go to get laughter is becoming more and more bizarre. Recently there was this comedy group I one of the TV stations. The group have been in the business for some time and you expected some careful planning from them. Planning that wouldn’t offend the public. But in this episode they were talking about rape. Now I must be behind years when it comes to evaluating humor issues, but rape could never be an issue for humor! They were glamorizing, glamorizing rape! Some of said they’ve actually raped! The sad part is that they make it sound that almost all of us are the products of abduction and rape. And all this in a nationally broadcast TV channel. The apologies were unconvincing as this is not an issue that comes suddenly and you don’t have the team to correct it.
“I want problems. I don’t want peace!” is the crudest sales pitch you could imagine. That was what the Napi guy was shouting at the top of his voice all over the place. And such a slogan or whatever being shouted in the streets of a country praying for peace to reign. People were angry and they didn’t hide their frustrations.
“Napi, we are angry with you; we gave you love but you insulted our hero Haile; Shame on you.”
“You are always welcome in Ethiopia bro. But last week you touched the untouchable legend Haile Gebre Selassie and you saw how we reacted.”
The quest to have laughs is so much so that some things you hear and witness are outrageous to say the least. There was this You Tube video of three kids aged maybe around seven and nearby playing out a small drama. There were two boys and a girl. One of the boys already appears on many films and the other also is familiar to TV and YouTube watchers. The three were playing ‘house.’ Boy one says that the little girl was his wife. The other protests and says she was his wife. Finally, she was asked and she said she was the ‘wife’ of Boy one. Here is where the shocking part of the video comes. You know what the other boy says? Something like “Then she would be my mistress.” (Wushima in Amharic) She would be my Wushima! that’s what the boy of seven or eight said! It doesn’t stop there. Boy one asks what “Wushima’ means and the other tells him he was someone who comes when the husband was away.
We know real, harmless comedy when we see it. The Napi guy’s antiques might work in other societies but not here. The next time another Napi sort of guy decides to visit we advise them to do their homework.
BY EPHREM ENDALE
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SUNDAY EDITION 21 JANUARY 2024