American Comedienne Tiffany Haddish Responds To Criticism Over Zimbabwe Video
American stand-up comedienne and actress Tiffany Haddish, who is half-Eritrean, says her TikTok video showcasing a supermarket visit in Zimbabwe was intended to challenge some of the negative stereotypes about Africa.
Haddish’s video, in which she expresses apparent disbelief while scanning the aisles stocked with soft drinks, frozen meat, and fresh produce, drew backlash from some Zimbabwean social media users.
In the video, Haddish can be heard saying, “Look at this grocery store. It’s humungous, in Africa,” seemingly surprised by the variety and availability of goods on the supermarket shelves.
However, a user on the X social media platform said the comedian should travel more. Wrote the user:
How ignorant could she be? Did she think that Africans shop from rocks? She needs to travel more and unclog her sadly colonized view of the world. Yikes.
Another person said: “They think we’re chasing lions and zebras.”
Yet another critic said that Americans have a “misguided perception of Africa, believing that its inhabitants live in primitive conditions, residing in mud huts, lacking access to clean water, and being devoid of modern amenities like electricity and internet”.
In response to the criticism on X, Haddishsaid she had previously been fed misinformation and false narratives about Africa, which prompted her to share the supermarket video as a way to challenge those negative perceptions. She said:
I am an American, a Black one at that, and told for years that people are starving in Africa, showed pictures of babies with flies on them.
She added that she was told “crazy stories” about how Africans “kill each other” and that there is “war every day”. Said Haddish:
I asked my Black friends to go with me and they were scared. We got here and I have been eyes full of tears finding out the truth. The media be lying. I thought I would share cause I know people in the USA that believe Africans don’t have anything.
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