Every now and then, we get a reminder of how dangerous a place like the Internet can be. The latest victim of technology’s dark side is award-winning vocalist Tiwa Savage. The queen of afropop finally got something that had been bothering her off her chest.
The “Somebody’s Son” singer recently revealed that she was being blackmailed over a sex tape of herself and her partner. She said the video was accidentally posted on Snapchat by her lover who deleted it after he realised his error but it had already been downloaded by someone.
These revelations were made in an interview with American OAP Angie Martinez of Power 105.1. Savage absolved her lover and other people close to her of deliberately leaking the video.
“I am not going to call it a sex tape but it’s a tape between me and the person I am dating right now… It is not from someone working closely with me. What happened is that the person did it on Snap and he posted it by accident, but he quickly deleted it.
”However, someone got it before he could delete it. It is a very short video, but it is me. It is going to be out there and I can just imagine the memes. I just found out yesterday. I could not sleep last night.”
The 41-year-old revealed that the incident happened last month and that the person tried extorting money from her but that she was not going to allow anyone blackmail her for doing something she described as “natural.”
“I am that crazy I could put it out myself – you are not making any money off me.
”We tried to stall them, but I later decided that I am going to own the narrative. I am not ashamed of it; this is someone I am dating; I am not cheating, neither is he. We are grownups.”
Savage is not the first to be a victim of blackmailers who demand money in exchange for keeping explicit pictures/videos or celebrities off the Internet. Veteran musician Salawa Abeni and media personality Toke Makinwa have also had to deal with the same dilemma Savage is facing.
Even though the law clearly abhors blackmail, it doesn’t seem to deter perpetrators. In Nigeria, victims are protected by a 2015 cyber-crime act that made it an offense punishable by 3 year in prison.
Hopefully, it all ends well for Savage. We’re rooting for her!
