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Akon Comes Under Fire For Saying Africans Are Better Performers Than Americans

December 08, 2003

Akon has come under a lot of fire after he claimed that African performers were better than their American counterparts.

The claim was made during an appearance on The ZeZe Millz Show, where he spoke on a range of topics, and said that African performers were just “a little different.”

“We a little different when it comes to stage presence,” Akon said at the 18-minute mark. “Now in America? Oh yeah, them n-ggas gonna be wobbling, pants hanging half down, bored as hell, half asleep ’cause they high as hell. But in Africa, I mean look at these YouTube clips of all these kids from Uganda, these kids are performers.”

“So for us, it comes naturally to watch the kids from Africa. It’s in their blood. Performing is like second nature for us,” he continued, before crowning Black Sherif and Fireboy DML as “the new generation of African talent.”



Twitter flooded with reactions to Akon’s controversial take, with famed producer Van Lathan among those who called the rapper’s comments disrespectful.

“It always comes back to shitting on Black Americans, especially after they’ve made millions imitating Black Americans,” he wrote.

Ebro Darden added: “This is framed in a way to trigger me, lemme chill. @Akon, you’re my guy and you can’t mean African-Americans in general? Ain’t no way!”

Other reactions included Black skincare influencer Lateef Saka, who wrote: “Akon cosplayed as a black American for the majority of his career so him saying this is wild. Let the Black Americans cook him (without xenophobia pls).”

Anna Gifty also wrote: “As a Ghanaian-American, I hate this with every fiber of my body for so many reasons, but what really gets me about this entire “conversation” is Akon using AAVE while degrading African-Americans.”



— Van Lathan Jr (@VanLathan) December 27, 2022





— the Old Man Ebro (@oldmanebro) December 26, 2022



— Lateef (@LateefSaka) December 26, 2022

Elsewhere in the interview, Akon said he “1,000 percent” supported Nick Cannon’s decision to have so many children with different women, and said he shouldn’t be criticized for his parenting decisions.

The Konvict Music CEO was asked to share his thoughts on Cannon’s 11 children that he’s had with multiple women over the years. The Wild ‘n Out host announced in October that he’s expecting his 12th child with model Alyssa Scott.

“Do you agree with Nick Cannon and his spreading of his seed?” Millz asked.

“I agree with him 1,000 percent. That’s how life is supposed to be,” Akon replied. “Why not? He’s rich. He’s responsible. He takes care of every one of those children. And the baby mothers are with it. And they hurt for nothing. And they live comfortably.”

Millz pushed back and said a baby needs far more than just financial support from a father, but Akon stood by Cannon’s parenting skills.

“He’s there for every one of them,” the “Locked Up” singer said. “He’s there for every single one of those kids. I got nine [kids] and I’m there for every one of mine.”

Millz then asked if Akon, who reportedly has six children with three women, is at every one of his kids’ “recitals.”

“No, that’s a white man’s thing. Who gives a fuck about a recital?” he replied. “No, seriously. Listen, my job is to raise my kids, to be responsible, to be understanding, to protect their mother, to give a hand with their father, and to assist with family planning, and to be responsible adults.”

He continued: “Now guess what? While I’m taking care of my responsibility to make sure the family has a roof over their head and food, if I have the time to do that and show love, yes, I will do that. But my responsibility is to make sure they grow up responsible and strong.”

“You can’t expect a man to conquer the world if he’s there with his children,” he concluded.

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