If you hadn't heard Mejja and Femi One’s new banger Utawezana, you might have seen a viral dance video by TikTok User Azziad Nasenya.
Dressed in a simple crop top and blue denim shorts, a petite and smiling Azziad films herself masterfully dancing and lip-syncing to Femi One’s lines in the song.
With multiple re-shares from her over 56,000 social media followers, soon her videos garnered hundreds of thousands of views. Others joined in the #UtawezanaChallenge, and by Sunday afternoon the challenge had topped the trends.
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The song was catapulted to the number one trending spot on YouTube in Kenya, garnersing over 490,000 views only six days after it was published.
But the song's popularity has now been tainted by body-shamers and other cyberbullies who have taken to trolling Azziad Nasenya, a prolific social media user who helped popularise it with her dance videos.
Others criticized the talented dancer and avid TikTok user for the sensuality of her dance moves, as others shared her private number on several public platforms.
“A lot of you will find this very petty but I don’t care. To me this is very serious, I don’t like it. Stop giving people my number without my consent,” Nasenya said in response.
Fans, have, however, come to her defense with a new hashtag: #Istandwithazziad rising.
A social media user claimed that Azziad's number had been shared to over 3,000 people online.
Among those who have come to the defence and support of Azziad is celebrated news anchor Betty Kyalo.
In a long post calls out the online bullies for taking advantage of the anonymity social platforms provide to traumatise people they know nothing of.
Here is Betty’s post:
It is so horrible that we have become terrible human beings. We love to hate. We love to put people down, we love to see people at their worst, we love to see people abused, we love to see people attacked. Shame on us. We are no longer human.
I have been bullied many times. It's rough. People who don't know me, have never met me feel like they are entitled to say something about my life, criticize me, bully me. It's wrong.
When you go online and choose to be a horrible and evil human being remember one day life will come back to you just like that. No one is perfect. No one has this life figured out, no one knows what the current times and future holds. We all make mistakes. We all err.
So who are you to pretend to be a better person when in your life you know not everything is perfect or ok. Shame on all of us for thinking we are bigger human beings, shame on us for putting young girls’ nudes out there just because we want to TRY feel better.
For everyone who has gone through bullying or is going through bullying now or in the future, I have some advice for you PROTECT YOUR HEART! Delete the Apps for some time. Don't go looking for what people are saying about you.
Protect your heart and peace at all costs. Go for a walk or do something to keep your mind off it, it's ok to feel bad BUT only for a day. Sing! Dance! Pray.
To friends and family of people who being bullied stop sending the horrible articles or screenshots or messages to the victims. Stop. You should always protect your own. Call them or text them and be there for them. Don't talk about what is happening online but be more loving and caring. Don't criticize them or make them feel worse about the bullying.
Finally, let's all try to be better human beings. It doesn't add you anything to hate on someone, it doesn't cost you to be a love ambassador. Be better.
