The Internet Never Forgets: The Sugar Daddy’s Spectacle

SOCIAL MEDIA, particularly Twitter, went agog on Wednesday with some posts of famous musician, Kidi, taking centre stage.

What was the issue? Some previous posts of the musician, who calls himself ‘Sugar Daddy’, making disparaging comments (for lack of a better word), about some notable personalities and groups in the country, popped up.

Some of the posts, which dated as far back between 2012 and 2014, was trending on social media (Twitter mainly) with Kidi at the centre on Twitter around 3pm on Wednesday.

One would wonder who might have had such luxury of time and perhaps, mobile internet data in this COVID-19–Ukraine/Russia–war era to dig so deep into the past of the musician as to bring out all those posts. That must be some daunting task, I can imagine.

But moving away from the lighter side of things, the issue at stake is something that should give any serious person in this life, particularly Kidi and his team, some serious headaches – at least for the first few days.

Of particular note were his posts about former President John Dramani Mahama (then President). It’s unimaginable the stuff he said about him.

While I wish not to rekindle old wounds, I’d like to, for the benefit of objectivity, quote a few of Kidi’s posts about the former President.

“Y’all complain about Mahama, LMAO… Niggaz Got 3 MORE YEARS. Means 3 MORE YEARS of suffering or maybe worse,” one of the posts read; while another also stated, “Mahama should be happy that the World Cup has taken Ghanaians’ minds of the economic hardships. Briefly.”

Well, these posts, in my opinion aren’t too ‘bad’ since he can be excused for expressing his opinions on governance. But then, this very post is the straw that broke the camel’s back for me: “I heard [President] Mahama will be giving an address later today… Which I think is totally useless.”

For crying out loud, this is the President of our dear country we are talking about here – the First Gentleman of the land (back then). And again, that platform was social media – an open space where the entire world gathers everyday to ‘talk’. Why talk about your President, our President that way. What happened to courtesy and respect for the elderly?

Former President Mahama isn’t the only person that suffered cyber abuse from Kidi. President Nana Akufo-Addo, then presidential aspirant, also suffered similar fate; not to talk about legendary musician, Sarkodie and acting duo, Yvonne Nelson and Jackie Appiah, among others. All these persons, and even more, suffered severe vitriolics from the now famous musician.

But worth noting is that, all these persons mentioned above had attained, and were enjoying celebrity status in the country by the time Kidi was busying himself by making those posts. I’m sure he was by then a ‘nobody’. That, I can bet my last coin on.

He was absolutely nobody, not even a side-guy, talk less of a sugar daddy. But you see, due to social media, he could sit behind his Nokia Asher phone or Samsung Galaxy Pocket phone and tweet all those balderash as though he was at par with them on the social ladder. But he was not, and that was the reality.

Today, he has shot to fame. He’s famed all over the country and beyond for his music. For those who may not know him too well, he’s an award-winning musician. In fact, Kidi is the current Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMA) artiste of the year; and at the same time, the 3-Music Awards artiste of the year for the second consecutive time. Kidi is no small a person in Ghana.

He’s a big star, a celebrity for that matter, whom a lot of the youths today look up to. He’s therefore expected to live an exemplary life, especially for the youth, who constitute the biggest part of his fan base, to emulate.

Kidi may have long forgotten about all the rubbish he was posting back then, maybe for fame, but THE INTERNET NEVER FORGETS. And this is the lesson that all of us, regardless of age, faith or creed, must learn if indeed we still want to use social media. (Social media is indispensable in our world today by the way though.)

I’m sure the Sugar Daddy may have broken a lot of hearts with the kind of posts that emerged from the archives of his timeline. I, for one, was shocked to the marrow. So, I kept asking whether that was truly Kidi till I went on Twitter myself and saw some of the posts with his verified account. Utterly embarrassing.

Some youths are doing today what Kidi did seven, eight, nine or ten years ago – throwing tantrums at people they had never seen before and cannot even be like, courtesy social media. Today, it’s all fun and ‘sweet’ to troll, abuse and jest others for their ‘shortcomings’ as celebrities; tomorrow, you may be in the same or similar situation.

No matter what you do on these streets of social media, just remember that, THE INTERNET NEVER FORGETS. Your posts will surely come back one day to haunt you.

We must all take a cue from the Sugar Daddy’s debacle so we don’t end up in a spectacle as his. THE INTERNET NEVER FORGETS. Whatever you throw at it in your secret room, corner or bedroom, will definitely come looking for you in the open for people to know who you are. So, THINK BEFORE YOU TYPE!