Kenyans Slam Filmmaker, Wanuri Kahiu for Lying Over Support for Lesbian Movie ‘Rafiki’

"The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is."

 - Winston Churchill

If there is something that Kenyan filmmaker, Wanuri Kahiu just realized, it is the fact that the internet never forgets and that Kenyans are one of the most outspoken people on the African continent.

One should have thought that someone, as educated and exposed as Wanuri Kahiu, would already know this.

Kenyans have continued to throw shades and slam award-winning filmmaker, Wanuri Kahiu for what they termed a ‘betrayal of the Kenyan people’.

While showcasing her just-released lesbian movie, ‘Rafiki’ in the United Kingdom, Wanuri Kahiu made the costly mistake of saying to her audience that she did not get support from Kenyans after releasing the movie.

While this could easily pass as an honest mistake on the part of the filmmaker, it is indeed an unforgivable one because indeed Kenyans stuck out their necks in support for Wanuri Kahiu and her movie ‘Rafiki’.

They stood toe to toe with the government and protested the ban on the movie. So, it is really disheartening to say to an international community that she didn’t get support from Kenyans for the movie.

On Monday, a video emerged on social media of Wanuri’s lecture to a packed auditorium in the United Kingdom in which she blamed Kenyans for not supporting her work.

The film is about a young lesbian couple in a nation where gay and lesbian sex is still a criminal offense.

“The reason ‘Rafiki‘ is not watched in Kenya is that Kenyans didn’t advocate for it,” she told the audience.

This has not gone on well with the Kenyan people as reactions are still pouring in as a result of her remarks.

Kenyans fought until the ban on the movie was lifted and they flocked in their numbers to see the movie in Cinemas.

She later rectified that the Kenyan audience supported the film and made it one of the highest grossing Kenyan films in the opening week.

“I am incredibly grateful to their support and continue to make work that shows us as joyful, vibrant people.”

Why the double face?

Header Image Credit: Rafiki