The Sunday Mail
Andrew Moyo —
THE arts industry is a competitive arena where survival is determined by one’s ability to maintain relevance and stay a step ahead of everyone else.
With the rise in the number of new acts and trends coming up, the competition is just getting tougher and many artistes employ different tactics to stay afloat and remain in the limelight.
The world over, controversy has become the key word when it comes to marketing one’s brand and Zimbabwean showbiz has not been spared.
Leaked sex tapes, absurd lyrical content, physical body alterations, mysterious album covers, weird dress codes, unorthodox behaviour and social media rants are among some of the things that have either catapulted certain individuals to instant stardom or led to the demise of others’ careers.
Despite being well known for her association with Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian gained wider recognition after her sex tape with former boyfriend Ray J was leaked in 2007 and to date, she is one of the most talked about celebrities in the world.
Although she is now mostly recognised for her family’s reality show “Keeping up with the Kardashians”, and her marriage to hip-hop superstar Kanye West, the sex tape fiasco can be credited as her major stepping stone to stardom.
Kanye West is one of the biggest artistes in the world who thrives on controversy and if he was to write a book on the subject, it would be a definite best seller. From controversial opinions to daring lyrics, Kanye has always been able to draw worldwide attention for his notoriety.
The list of celebrities who have risen to fame through controversial channels is endless and this disease has also spread to these shores. When there is talk of controversial artistes on the local scene, Stunner is one of the names that pops up as he has had his fair share of mouth-gaping episodes.
His leaked sex tape with Pokello Nare might have shocked the nation, but it gave birth to a new celebrity.
Despite being a businesswoman and socialite, very little was known about Pokello before the sex tape. After it started making rounds, almost everyone wanted to find out who she was.
Her celebrity status gained another boost when she got the opportunity to represent the country at popular reality show, Big Brother Africa in 2013.
Recently, Stunner’s wife, Olinda Chapel, became an instant hit on social media after pulling an emotional stunt on Facebook Live, stating she was done with the relationship after exposing the rapper’s extramarital affairs and their household’s financial climate, pointing out that she was the family’s breadwinner.
All those who did not have access to Facebook did not have to worry as good Samaritans downloaded the video and started sharing it on various platforms including WhatsApp, resulting in the clip becoming a major hit on social media.
These past few days, this couple has been the talk of the town with many people keeping tabs on both parties’ social media activity so as not to miss out on the latest developments in the Chideme drama.
More Facebook Live and Snapchat posts have followed up, keeping the public confused as to whether the couple is breaking up or making up.
This has become some sort of a reality show, which has raised suspicions that this might just be a publicity stunt by an attention seeking couple.
Publicity stunt or not, the situation has brought about another influential character on the ever-dramatic social media sphere.
The plus sized businesswoman proved that she has indeed become a social media queen when she went on Facebook Live for close to five minutes without saying a single thing, with the camera blocked somehow only for her face to pop up and say, “Ndanga ndangoti ndibvunze kuti maswera sei, good afternoon to everybody.”
The video attracted close to 50 000 views in a space of two days.
Olinda has suddenly become a person of interest as most Zimbabweans are now curious about her background, her business interest and the extent of her wealth or lack thereof, with most of the information currently being pieced together through hearsay.
Many people claiming to know her history have been popping up with all kinds of stories, which range from the obscene to outright funny.
While other artistes have capitalised on such situations to boost their music sales or attract fans to their shows, it still remains to be seen if Mr Chideme has realised any financial gains from all this, besides of course, the attention.
The rapper has an album that is a few months old and this would have been the perfect opportunity to draw the public’s attention to the new music, but alas, most people have chosen to concentrate on the disoriented family’s issues.
A mischievous app developer has even made a funny mobile game, “Olinda’s Revenge”, which is available for free on Playstore where the player has to take down her husband’s girlfriends and retrieve the money the husband has been spending on them.
While many musicians, especially in western countries, have benefited financially from controversial stunts, in Zimbabwe it has mostly been popularity that is gained.
Besides Stunner, other local artistes who have been shrouded in controversy include Winky D, Soul Jah Love, Nox, Maskiri, Trevor Dongo and Roki, to name just a few.
