I thought with my last article on Mr. Leo that unfortunately did not focus on his music but rather on the little PR mess he had found himself entrenched in, I would never have to come back to any topic that remotely came close to his dressing. Unfortunately, I find myself having to bring up something that I don’t really want to talk about around that same topic.
And so why then am I talking about it, you must be asking? Well once again, I am able to steer the conversation from Mr. Leo and shine the spotlight instead on us, the public, on you reading this and even on me because I have been a participant myself, either by commenting, putting a like here and there or even simply not speaking up against it.
For a good while now, I have noticed Mr. Leo has been throwing jokes on social media about his slim-fitting leather pants, colloquially called “leather collant.” It’s been everywhere, Twitter, Facebook and just a few days ago, he went on Instagram with a video of himself showing his collection of 10 leather trousers.
Now, there are two things involved: Two hypotheses if you will.
One; Leonard is a just a very simple and naturally good-humoured person who can take a joke(s) nicely and go on to show just how much he revels in the online jabs that the public has been throwing at him.
Two; Leonard is pained by these online jabs, and in some cases, the online diatribes that have been thrown against his dressing and this whole circus he has been doing on social media are just a coping mechanism. Quite like the guy crying behind a mask that shows a happy face.
Either way, it doesn’t matter. The only point I want to make here is that it is our actions that prompted a response from Mr. Leo. One which, in my opinion, he did not have to give and which we in no way, truly deserve. Mind you, I did not say we did not deserve, I said we did not truly deserve. This is because I remember quite well in my last article on the topic saying that if people are so bent on seeing Mr. Leo look nice it is also because it comes from a place of love and since he is one of our most prominent musical exports we want our own selves to be projected in the image that he gives off.
But now the question is, how far do we have to go to make MR Leo in our image? How much do we have to say and how bitter do our words have to be to make our point? And how far does Mr. Leo himself have to participate in our expectations of him? I had wanted to write this same article a while ago just when Mr. Leo was teasing the video for “Je suis a toi” a beautiful love ballad which is one of my favourite Mr. Leo songs. The video featured a light-skinned model that was Mr. Leo’s love interest.
In the comment section, a lot of people had a lot of negative things to say about both of them. Two things struck me, first of which were the number of women who insulted the love interest and notably her light-skin colour. One girl, in particular, was so merciless with her insults that I actually clicked on her profile to see what she looks like. I was surprised that she could insult someone else’s looks when in her case, I would be nice if I said she looks like something that the cat dragged in. But I’m not one to insult a woman.
The second thing that struck me, and this came mostly from Anglophone guys, were the number of comments calling Mr. Leo a “bush guy” who had seen a sexy light-skinned woman for the first time and was so confused that he had to put videos all over social media. Most of them ACTUALLY believed that was Mr Leo’s new girlfriend when ca sautait aux yeux que it was clearly a teaser for a video. I could have told those guys that they had the intellectual stature of scrambled eggs but I’m not the type to insult random strangers online.
And in his usual fashion, being the nice guy that he is or possibly that he got hurt by the comments, Mr. Leo posted a picture of himself with a few dark-skinned girls with a caption saying that he loves dark girls. This was days after the video dropped. In my mind, I was like “Ni55a! You don’t owe anyone explanations!’”
All this to say, the internet has made it easier for us to be able to tell complete strangers and the stars that we adore all the things that we think of them. The internet is a very vile and vicious place and you have to wear a thick skin, especially when you walk on the dark side of that moon. To be fair sometimes some celebrities deserve it. Your favourite rapper has said some stupid things that merit a firm digital knock on the head. And many people participated by spurring him on. I remember him calling a lady by the b-word once. Anyway, we are not talking about him today.
I’m not about to lecture people on social media ethics. I’m just here to say that we are all humans and irrespective of fame, social status and bank account we all have feelings and we get hurt. My words or anyone’s will not eliminate it completely because even before social media, people were taunting others. But if we are more aware, we learn to know where the line is and how much we are pushing the wall.
And in the case of Mr. Leo, I think we may have pushed it a little too far. Or am I wrong? Let me know what you think.
- Wandji Wilfred.