In April, 2009, James Makamba and I were sitting at the The Lanesborough, a Regency style hotel located at Hyde Park Corner in London’s Knightsbridge near Marble Arch for a cup of tea. Suddenly we saw Michael Jackson coming into the hotel with two of his bodyguards from where he was preparing for his “This is it”concerts. James ran over to him and said to Michael: “Mr Jackson come and join us for tea.” Michael politely answered and stated that he would come back after a shower. I said to Makamba, that Michael will not come back. He never came back. I asked Makamba if he knew that we all suffer from celebrity worship syndrome because we want to be associated with celebrities, but did he think that Jackson would sit down and have tea with complete strangers? That is how I knew that Jackson would not come back. Let me explain:
Psychologists all over the world are in agreement with the fact that the majority of the world’s population are afflicted to some degree by what is termed “celebrity worship syndrome”. Celebrity culture can be a defining disease for most people, especially teenagers as music often brings out crazy emotions in some people.
A lot of famous musicians in Zimbabwe are known celebrities with fan bases and other followers spreading throughout the country.
I have seen a lot of fans crowding over their celebrities for simply wanting to get autographs or taking selfies with them. Some simply want to shake their hands. This is where the celebrate needs to be strong and find diplomatic means of protecting himself/herself.
If the celebrity is weak and succumbs to the pressure from his crazy fans, or fails to control himself, the situation that follows often ends up a disaster.
Before we delve into this story, we must ask ourselves the question: “What is a celebrity?” My simple understanding of the word is that a celebrity is: a unique persona made widely known to the public via media coverage, and whose life is publicly consumed as dramatic entertainment, and whose commercial brand is made profitable for those who exploit their popularity, and perhaps also for themselves.
According to Greg Jenner, a British Historian, celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports or the entertainment industry, their position as a political figure, or even from their connection to another celebrity. ‘Celebrity’ usually implies a favourable public image, as opposed to the neutrals ‘famous’ or ‘notable’, or the negatives ‘infamous’ and ‘notorious’.
They need not be rich all the time. It is people we all know about in society and talk about a lot more.
In Zimbabwe there are hundreds of celebrities we know about. Some of them are rich and with favourable public images while others have notorious images and might be poor, but we still talk about them a lot. Names ranging from 1.Winky D , 2.Seh Calaz , 3.Freeman , 4.Enzo Ishall , 5.Killer T , 6.Jah Signal , 7.Tocky Vibes , 8.Shinsoman, 9. Philip Chiyangwa, 10. Mai Titi 11. Chirikure Chirikure, 12. Jah Prayzah, 13. Aleck Macheso, 14. Wicknell Chivayo, 15, Thomas Mapfumo, 16. Tinashe Mugabe, 17. Apostle Chiwenga, 18. Peter Muparutsa, 19. Leonard Zhakata, 20. Passion Java, 21. Pokello, 22.Feli Nandi, 23. Madam Boss, 24. Holy Ten, 25. Mambo Dhuterere, 26. Gemma Griffiths, 27. Tich Mataz, 28. Sam Mataure, 29. Takura, 30. Sandra Ndebele, 31. Sulumani Chimbetu, 32. Emmanuel Makandiwa, 33. Grace Mugabe, 34. Bona Mugabe, 35. James Makamba and 36. Baba Harare, to mention only a few, come to mind when talking about Zimbabwe’s celebrities.
I went out in the streets of Harare asking young people if they were interested in becoming celebrities. There were mixed reactions but seventy five percent of them responded positively saying that they wanted to be rich, famous and well-known throughout Zimbabwe.
One Joseph Chiwanza (aged 27) said to me: “I’m not gonna lie. I want to be famous. I’ve always wanted my interactions with people to mean something to them. People respect you when you have money and are well-known. Who in this world does not love money. In my case, I am only interested in becoming a celebrity if it gives me money to help myself and the needy in society."
Evelyn Mushambi (26) had this to say: “I am not equipped in any way to handle fame. And I don’t like any aspect of fame except for the power to make people’s day. I don’t like the responsibility that comes along with it, I positively hate the lack of privacy, and I don’t want to be under constant scrutiny.”
John Humphreys a Namibian television personality, said to me : “I think about it, fame is like fire that I want to control. I can’t control it, but I secretly lust for the power it gives me to light things up. Being a celebrity gives me status. A good example is when my van broke down on the highway. Several people stopped to help because they knew who I was. If I was a nobody, I don’t think that anybody would have stopped.”
These three people showed me that there are advantages and disadvantages of being a celebrity. From what I gathered, many people crave fame because they want power, status, and wealth; No one wants to be treated like a nobody, like they’re unimportant, or powerless, and this is why almost every other person wants to become famous; this is what makes fame so desirable.
However, being a celebrity also comes with its obstacles. You become a people’s person. If not careful, even people who do not know you, will subject you to all sorts of abuses simply because they want to be associated with you.
Oliver Mtukudzi once told me a story when two of his drunk fans were arguing in a nightclub about the lyrics of one of his songs at four o’clock in the morning. Mtukudzi was already sleeping at home when one of the drunkards suggested; “I know Oliver very well, I even have his phone number. We can call him to find out what he meant when he sang ‘Bvuma Wasakara’. He did. Oliver was trying to get some sleep after an exhausting show in the capital. That phone call was annoying because he did not know who was calling him at that unsocial hour. What that drunkard did is what we call name dropping. He just wanted to impress his friends by pretending that he knew Oliver Mtukudzi without taking into consideration the effect of that phone call on the person receiving it. Worse still Tuku did not even know who was calling him. This type of incident had happened a few times before to the extent that Oliver was forced to change his phone number.
Name dropping and taking selfies is often done by people who want to be close to celebrities. They think that being associated with celebrities will boost their importance in society.
When one becomes famous, you not only have to prepare for never-ending paparazzi flashes and mobs of fans, but you must also brace yourself as you enter the world of crazy celebrity stalkers. With all the glitz and glam can come a whole lot of insanity. I have read a lot of stories of celebrity stalkers and some of the things crazy and overzealous fanatics do to the celebrities are just incredible. Sometimes, it involves a fan who is so dedicated to a celeb, that they go to extreme measures to meet them.
I remember one Jah Prayzah fan who, despite being restrained by bouncers, forced her way to the back stage on New Year’s Eve hoping that she would at least shake his hand. That did not happen because as soon as Jah Prayzah left the stage he escaped through the back door and disappeared. The fan was disappointed. She had to console herself by talking to the rest of his Third Generation Band.
What seems like fanatical yet pretty harmless behaviour can sometimes turn out to be nasty when fans do not achieve what they set out to do. Some fans will take their love for the celebrity a little too far and will begin to stalk him, send him e-mails and just simply pester him. The star becomes a victim of his own fans. Sometimes a restraining order becomes necessary.
We all suffer from this disease called celebrity worship syndrome, but let’s try to be more mature how we go about it.
Feedback: frezindi@gmail.com