Opinion: Will Emeka Ike And Timaya Die?

Editor’s note: Will Emeka Ike and Timaya ‘die’ from the current battering to their public images? Naij.com‘s entertainment editor Henry Igwe asks the hard question.

If Emeka Ike and Timaya are indeed celebrated public figures, will their recent scandals kill their personal brands?

Asking this is as good as asking if it is a tough job breaking into the Federal Reserve Bank in New York with its three-layered security, infrared cameras with motion detectors, and some of the finest snipers around earth, to say the least.

When you are in the limelight there are certain standards that the world expects and must always see. You cannot frolic to extreme levels, not when you are a key player in your industry and a brand. This is as true as it gets.

Following to recent reports, Ike was accused of physically assaulting his now estranged wife while Timaya is facing rape accusations from a single mother in faraway USA.

Honestly, if these were saner climes and it was judicially established that these two battered and raped those women, following due process, prison time will be the least of their worries.

We remember how African China fizzled out shortly after a rape allegation was leveled against him in London, UK. It is hard to determine if his ‘brand’s’ life cycle was over before the scandal, or if the rape accusations sped up it’s demise. However, what we know is he left the stage, and left mainstream music altogether almost faster than he got into it following that incident.

These days, when his name is brought up, it does not take much time for the conversation to veer into gossip on the rape scandal. That ugly period in his life now clings forever to his public image as firmly as his talent as a singer and song-writer. Tragic!

In the prime of Mike Tyson’s career, when he was found guilty of raping an 18-year-old, he was sentenced to six years in prison. He got parole after serving three whole years. The laws are crystal clear there, that way you know that rape and every form of assault is not child’s play.

Mystikal raped his hair stylist and kissed stardom and its entire benefits goodbye by doing time at a Louisiana correctional facility for six years.

Still, here in Nigeria, although the law is more lax and the public sometimes kinder, to say that Emeka Ike and Timaya will bounce back is a bit too optimistic. Whether the rumours are true or not, their personal brands will struggle from this point on thanks to the court of public opinion.

*The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Naij.com.

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