Ghanaian Actor Kwadwo Nkansah To Lose MTN Sponsorship Over Weed Joke?

Kwadwo Nkansah with Dancehall artist Sean Taylor
Kwadwo Nkansah with Dancehall artist Sean Taylor

How far can a comedian take a joke? Apparently it appears that unlike in other cultures like the US where there seems to be no holds barred on an artist’s choice of subject, the audience or rather the organizers at the much hyped ‘Ghana Meets Naija’ event took a rather stern stance towards an act pulled by popular Ghanaian actor/comedian Kwadwo Nkansah aka Lil Wyn.
Kwadwo Nkansah set the stage at the Accra International Conference Center ablaze combining hilarious body gestures, dance moves and singing. The trouble however began when he started the ‘stand-up’ segment of his act.
The MTN icon started telling a joke about selling some ‘medicine’ which he says cures all ailments in the typical fashion of a herbal medicine seller on public buses typically known in Ghana as ‘Trotro’ . He went on to say the medicine in question was marijuana. This caused anxious moments for the organizers and especially for the DJ of the night, DJ Black who tried to interrupt the act by playing music while the act was still on. Lil Wyn reacted by calling Black’s attention but instead had his mic muted; a clear signal for him to get off the stage. Surprisingly, the audience rather cheered as the shamefaced actor walked off the stage.
Shortly after this, telecommunications company MTN which has Kwadwo as its icon issued an apology on the projector screens denouncing and dissociating itself from Kwadwo’s comments. The text read:
We at MTN disapprove of any public promotion or sale of “wee” or any illicit drug
We also disapprove of Lil Wyn’s comment on sale of “wee”
We also apologize for any inconvenience this comment may have caused.

MC for the night Chris Attoh also rendered a verbal apology.

Speaking to our reporters after the event however, some of the attendees suggested that MTN and the organizers over-reacted. “In this day and age, we are still nervous to talk about marijuana when some countries are using it for medicinal purposes”, a fan who wanted to be simply called Nasiru said. Dzifa, another fan said “DJ Black and the rest of them have a questionable sense of humor. They completely missed the joke”.

It is not yet known if MTN will withdraw its ambassadorial tag from the Kumasi-based actor.

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