Posted by Nigerian artist Ayra Starr’s treatment of her LGBTQ fans at a recent event in Brazil has created controversy online.
During her performance at the C6 Festival in São Paulo on Friday, LGBTQ supporters were seen waving banners with varied slogans, including “We Are Your Sabigays” and “We [love emoji] You Ayra.”
The LGBTQ fans’ designation to themselves as “Sabigays” is an homage to Ayra Starr’s nickname, Sabi Girl.
After the event, one of the LGBTQ fans with the X account @miketrindade published images from his meeting with Ayra Starr with the message, “Today I met my Starrrrrr [crying, praying and love emoji] @ayrastarr.”
The post soon went viral, with followers, especially Nigerians, expressing conflicting feelings.
Ayra Starr also reposted it on her Instagram story.
Here is koupun roundup of some of the replies on X:
@GeorgeDanso97: “Truth to be told. A homophobic musician will never break out in America or anyplace in the Western world. Those gays carry streams, buy tickets, everything. They run the game. Unless you are homophobic covertly.
@AGRF9: “The moment the gays start stanning you, it’s officially over: You are in for a long career.
“If you check very long and resistant female careers such as Madonna, Beyoncé, Mariah, Nicki etc., just to name a few, you will notice their careers were/are heavily supported by women and gays. These individuals will back you till the end of time.”
@DemoOFUK: “If Ayra can capitalize on their [LGBTQ] market and put some ‘rainbow’ lyrics in one of her songs, she will be a global menace with this community behind her.
“Bruh, all I am saying is the need for inclusion. Why y’all triggered? In all spheres of life, there is the need for inclusion. Even in Netflix movies, we see it these days. Tf wrong with y’all? It’s Sabbath day, boy.”
@harrisonJNIOR: “She don’t need it [support of LGBTQ]. If she does, she’ll get them and lose Nigerians.”
@NGeeNius: “This is rubbish. She doesn’t need this weird set of individuals. She already is a budding star. So she doesn’t need to capitalize on Jack.”