Media Personality Van Lathan Slams Akon For Suggesting African Artists Are Better Performers Than Black Americans: Why Do People Feel The Need To Tear Into Us Specifically?

Van Lathan, Akon

Media Personality Van Lathan Slams Akon For Suggesting African Artists Are Better Performers Than Black Americans: Why Do People Feel The Need To Tear Into Us Specifically?

Akon is getting some backlash for his recent controversial statements.

Podcaster and social media influencer Van Lathan aired out his frustrations with the singer after Akon shared his not-so-positive opinion about the way Black American music artists perform.

If you haven’t seen the clip yet, Akon, born Aliaune Damala Badara Akon Thiam, 49, made a heavily critical comparison between Black and African performers during a recent interview. While on “The Zeze Millz Show,” the “Smack That” artist claimed Black musical performers are “bored” and implied they are often too high to give worthwhile stage appearances. He stated:

“America? Oh yeah. Them n*gg*s gon’ be wobbling, pants hanging half down, bored as hell, half asleep ‘cause they high as hell on stage…But Africa, we wake up – Like look at these YouTube clips of all these kids from Uganda. These kids are performers. So for us, it comes natural.”

Akon explains why Africans are more talented and better performers than Black Americans pic.twitter.com/YlXah9KxF2

— CultureMillennials (@CultMillennials) December 25, 2022

It seems a lot of people were not here for the comments. Many social media users shared their disapproving opinion of Akon’s statement as the clip gained more exposure. Some pointed out that the Senegalese-American musician has often replicated artists and the style of music he’s now so critical of.

Van Lathan Jr, former TMZ co-host and producer, was also gravely offended by Akon’s comments. The media personality took to his Instagram to slam the musician’s statements, and discuss why they’re so inappropriate and hurtful. He wrote:

“First off, Akon has been on his clown sh*t for years now but that’s another topic. God Bless him. I wanna say something though. I’m Black. Like Black American Black. Like South Louisiana bayou bondage Black…The kind of Black where you grow up around old people with scarred souls who tell you about everyone who died and everyone who lived so you could sit down and drink a soda on a Saturday….Real talk, I’m sick of seeing people shit on that.”

Van Lathan

He continued:

“And make no mistake, when you single out Black Americans for criticism, the ones who have culturally empowered the entire diaspora, you’re sh*tting an entire experience I feel connected to by birthright. This seems to be happening more now, why? Why do people who’ve like Akon, who’ve made millions of dollars cosplaying like brothers from Atlanta or Miami feel the need to tear into us specifically? There’s this fear that I have, that fear is that there is no diaspora. That fear is that Black Americans are to other Black people worldwide what we’ve always been here, workhorses used to plow through and build something for someone else, who then eats off it, before turning around and shooting the horse in the head. That might be irrational, but I’m insecure. I’m as insecure as Akon must be to have strapped a PS5 to his head and called it hair.”

Many of Lathan’s more than 550,000 Instagram followers also seemed to agree with his stance. Users debated the topic in the comments section, wondering why Akon would make such a seemingly divisive comparison. The St. Louis native also found himself in more controversy earlier this month due to the same interview. Akon was bashed for outwardly supporting his fellow entertainer Nick Cannon, amongst criticism he’s received for fathering 12 children with multiple women.

Akon has not publicly responded to his most recent critics at this time.

Do you think Akon was wrong for his statements? Let us know in the comments section!