Akon recently joined Revolt’s ‘Drink Champs’ podcast for a discussion with N.O.R.E and DJ EFN about his journey over the past 25 years.
During the interview he discussed a range of topics, including writing his breakthrough single “Lonely” from prison, “Locked Up” going viral, working with some of the biggest artists in the world, and building an African city.
But it was a clip of him talking about South Africa that’s garnering the most attention online. “And what’s crazy is certain parts of Africa, or South Africa, the white folks are the ones in the ghettos,” he said.
“If you go to South Africa, the richest people in South Africa are the black ones. It’s almost like a flip… Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, everywhere you go there’s areas where there’s poor people but the poorest areas are the poor parts where the white folks are.
“As a matter of fact, there’s a Netflix special on that, I’ve gotta remember the name though. If you search South Africa on there, it’ll pop up.”
@mothematiks shared the clip on Twitter. “Akon lying on the public platform about South Africa 🤦🏾♂️,” he said.
Akon lying on the public platform about South Africa 🤦🏾♂️ pic.twitter.com/AtOR0RlRx2
— Kgoshi Ya Lebowa (@Mothematiks) July 18, 2023
Twitter user @vernon_gt dismissed Akon’s comments. “@Akon why you be lying to the people in The USA? And we never seen what you talking about... Fake News.”
@Akon why you be lying to the people in The USA? And we never seen what you talking about... Fake News. https://t.co/478F6ml0In
— VERNON THE STREET LEGEND (@VERNON_GT) July 18, 2023
@chaukee_ added, “That boy lying all the time.🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣. I remember him telling Mike Tyson that we kill lions with our bare hands over here.”
@chaukee_ went on to share a video of Akon telling Tyson that the boxing legend’s Congolese ancestry was something to be proud of.
“The Congolese, these dudes kill gorillas with their bare hands,” he said. “That’s why Mike is so strong… They will literally go toe to toe with a gorilla and win.”