Winnie Nwagi, Vinka, Spice Diana, and Chozen Blood are some of the artists who have complained about being harassed by fans while performing. Just recently, Nwagi go into an altercation with fans that resulted in her being chased off stage. Despite the backlash, Nwagi maintains her ground and has been vocal about this behaviour from fans.
As celebrities champion their right to decent treatment and respect, Alien Skin recently posted a picture of his fans reaching out to him on stage with this caption, "Some times your fans touch you, to feel and confirm whether you’re real. Bambi temubakuba 🙏."
In the picture, male fans seem to bustle before Skin trying to touch him.
According to him, celebrities invoke great admiration from behind screens with their talent that when fans meet them it seems like a dream come true. Although fans' intentions and discernment in such situations is anyone's guess, on the other hand, celebrities who have been on the receiving end of such attention have made their boundaries known and even resorted to violence in extreme cases.
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While discussing the public safety of celebrities and public figures, experts have said, “Consent is crucial at every stage of a relationship and among strangers. Because someone is a public figure, it does not give them the right to touch a celebrity without their permission. Consent is important even if a relationship is decades-long or two people are married."
There seems to be widespread victim confusion in these cases when the celebrity who reacts to or condemns fan behaviour in regard to their personal space becomes the perpetrator despite the number of times it is addressed.
According to The Mend project, in any interaction, these are some of the tactics that perpetuate abusive and inappropriate behaviour; "denial, dismissing, joking "that was just a joke”, gaslighting, lying, and power play to make the other feel emotionally less deserving, impotent and powerless."
There appear to be few security measures to interfere with or minimise celebrity-fan interactions to keep such occurrences from being commonplace. While it is a small section of fans with "admiration without boundaries" careless sympathy and silence are more likely to justify and perpetuate this violation and behaviour rather than create common ground.