‘Degrading to Africans’: why I think we should boycott this Christmas song

In 1984, charity supergroup called Band Aid made Do They Know It's Christmas? to raise money for people in Ethiopia during a national crisis. Two more versions were released – including one in 2014 aiming to help victims of the Ebola outbreak.
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Afrobeats artist Fuse ODG was invited to take part in that edition, but refused, saying the single did ‘more harm than good’. He added that the organisers did not agree with his request to change some of the lyrics and imagery used in the campaign that are ‘degrading’ to Africans.

Now, with a new 40-year anniversary recording to be released in a few days, the MOBO award-winning artist is continuing to call out the issue – and has had other artists back him.

“I understand that there might be good intentions … but there’s a way to do that without also kicking them while they’re down,” says the British-Ghanaian artist.

Fuse ODG, who has recently launched an app about African history and languages, says the important thing is to lift up voices and tell stories that are often overlooked on the global stage – such as the fact that a cure for Ebola was discovered by a doctor from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dr Jean-Jacques Muyembe.

In response to the growing backlash, Bob Geldof, one of the founders of Band Aid, told the Conversation: “This little pop song has kept hundreds of thousands if not millions of people alive. In fact, just today [it] has given hundreds of thousands of pounds to help those running from the mass slaughter in Sudan, and enough cash to feed a further 8,000 children in the same affected areas of Ethiopia as 1984.”

Watch this video to learn more about why Fuse ODG thinks this – and other similar campaigns – is so damaging to Africa in the long term, and what he believes can help tackle negative stereotypes.

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