Kenya’s pioneer online comedian Timothy Kimani aka Njugush has clapped back at Twitter influencer Arthur Mandela who is popularly known as Xtian Dela.
Njugush recently said that he took issue with Xtian’s criticism in 2014 when the Twitter trendsetter condemned The Real Househelps of Kawangware show as disgusting.
The comedian used to star in the show and was also its creative director so Njugush took the criticism personally, he confirmed.
“Na bado mko na hopes za kufikia Lupita (Nyong’o)? Such a disgusting show,” Mandela had said.
A few months later the Oscar award winner tweeted: “Catching up in my guilty pleasure. The Real Househelps of Kawangware.”
Speaking about it for the first time in 7 years, Njugush said “What hurts me is the bigwig who said we wanted to be like Lupita. For me acting was everything,” he said, adding that he framed Lupita's tweet as a memorabilia.
The TTNT host has also taken to Twitter to humble Xtian by replying to Xtian's 7-year-old tweet using a screenshot of Lupita’s praise. The bigwig later deleted the original tweet after comments blew up on Monday, May 24.
“A year later I met him at an event where he said he loved my work,” Njugush recalled, adding a disgusted facial expression.
In a similar case Njugush also recalled how one of Kenya’s popular actors declined his invitation to feature on a skit he wanted to film to post on Facebook.
“At that time, people didn’t want to associate with me because I was struggling yet they were still on TV,” the comedian recalled.
Years later when Njugush became one of the most popular online sensations, he recruited the same actor for an ad so that he could teach him a lesson in humility.
“I had to make sure I called one of them and paid them,” he said, adding “Ushawai lipa mtu na madharau? Unajua umeoverpay but unamlipa na madharau. I did that”
According to the comedian, had he listened to the criticism he would not have made much of his skills to become a legend in the comedy industry.