It is a given that some male musicians have no problem with female fans touching their body parts during performances but the case was entirely different for young music star, Ruger who recently had a nasty encounter with a female fan. The action was captured in a video which went viral on social media shortly after the incident last Sunday at the Industry Night. The overbearing fan had reached for Ruger’s manhood in the middle of his performance and grabbed it inappropriately.
The video sparked mixed reactions online with many saying the case would have been different if it had been a male fan against a female musician. The ‘Dior’ crooner had during the performance of his hit song, got closer to the edge of the stage when an obsessed female fan used the opportunity to grab his private part; an action which saw the 22-year old Mavin artiste exit the stage with a strong show of disapproval written on his face.
In a different video, the lady carried on as if nothing had happened and didn’t seem remorseful for her action. It should be noted that like every profession, music also comes with its exposure, which has proven the extent singers have gone to satisfy their fans. Over the years, there has been an increase in the number of music stars who have been assaulted by supposed fans who have crossed the line.
In Nigeria, we have seen popular artistes who have been assaulted live on stage and how they handle it; artistes such as Burna Boy, Wizkid, and Davido. While some have been described as fan love for these artistes, many of these fans have, however, crossed the line in the supposed show of love for the music stars. On Ruger’s case, a good number of observers believe it was an act which the singer would have turned in his favour and not to get peeved and abruptly end his show.
On the contrary, a couple of others concluded that Ruger brought harassment upon himself. They assume the singer misled many female fans to believe he depicted himself as a bad guy to many of his female fans due to the lyrics in many of his song. Nigerians have since taken to social media to react as some said Ruger’s lyrics were not a tangible reason for him to be harassed.
Given to a music critic’s reckoning on Ruger, no breakout artiste has been more assertive than Ruger did in 2021. With his pink hair, left eye patch, alluring bravado, and lyrics such as “Ruger is the lockdown, Ruger is the pandemic”, no other afrobeats artiste has commanded attention and staked a claim to be heard like he has since he was discovered by D’Prince.
Two years before Ruger was unveiled, D’Prince had revealed Rema and has since turned him into the vanguard of new age afrobeats artistes. With such precedence, Ruger’s excitement undoubtedly shot through the roof the first time D’Prince messaged him. “I used to do freestyles on Instagram every Saturday. I was getting like 12 to 30 comments and I had four hundred followers — I was just enjoying it. It wasn’t even up to a year before I’d started putting out freestyles when I saw a DM from D’Prince.”
In February 2021, Ruger born Michael Adebayo Olayinka released his self-titled debut single, which instantly thrust him into the throes of the spotlight. A month later, the afrobeats singer and songwriter shared his six-track debut Pandemic EP. Since then, his fame has stretched stealthily across Nigeria, with his innuendo-filled record “Bounce”, creeping to the top of the biggest songs in Nigeria.
