One Nigerian TikToker, who has 1.5 million TikTok followers, is addressing useless African stereotypes on the platform.
Charity Ekezie from Abuja, Nigeria often received extremely ignorant comments from viewers under her content. This prompted her to debunk those stereotypes online, often using humor as the key driver. The Nigerian TikToker posted several videos which have been noted by many across the diaspora.
With obvious miseducation about Africa, the sarcastic videos aim to highlight how much work needs to be done to positively represent the continent.
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Erasing ignorance:
Some of the questions that Ekezie received include ‘Do you have airports in Africa?’, ‘Wait do you have a REAL kitchen in Africa?’, and even ‘do you have shoes in Africa?’.
The Tiktoker responded through a series of videos using humor to emphasize the ridiculousness of the questions. Many have responded by applauding Ekezie for the creativity while debunking the stereotypes. One TikToker commented ‘HOW R U NOT LAUGHING WHEN MAKING THESE VIDS-‘ under the TikTok titled ‘did you guys have ice cream in Africa’.
Using humor:
In an interview with Insider, Ekezie mentions that her TikTok was always a space for humor. Initially, she started reacting to bad haircuts or fashion fails. Occasionally she would use her platform to show off her traditional dress, encouraging people to visit African countries. It was here that she noticed a pattern: ‘I noticed that a common question people were asking in the comments was, “How am I going to visit Africa if there’s no running water there?”‘
‘It was when I started getting comments about African culture that I got really annoyed. People were asking me condescending questions about whether African countries have shoes or basic technology, so I decided to respond to them, and use my TikTok account to challenge their views about my culture.’ explained Ekezie in the interview.
Her sarcastic videos are intended to make people think twice about the insensitive and racist beliefs that they hold about the continent. Aside from these videos, Ekezie is committed to showing people how diverse and extravagant Africa is and uses TikTok as a vessel to do so.
