Singer Bahati on Wednesday, June 21 took to social media to accuse music distribution company Ziiki Media of hacking his YouTube channel and deleting his collaboration with Rwandan artist Bruce Melodie.
Later Bahati called out the platform after it issued a copyright claim on Diana Marua's YouTube channel deleting the video Bahati had uploaded.
In an Instagram post, Bahati expressed his frustration, calling out Ziiki Media as fraudsters and urging other artists to keep off the music distribution platform describing them as malicious.
"Another YouTube strike? Now Ziiki Media people have gone ahead and removed #Diana feat @BruceMelodie from @Diana_Marua's YouTube channel! Dear fellow musicians, just like Harmonize told us, these people are malicious. They are here to mistreat our musicians!" Bahati said.
Below is a snippet of the song pulled down from YouTube
READ: Diana Marua explains why her presence in Bahati's life has brought him riches
The allegations made by Bahati have sparked a response from Ziiki Media, denying any involvement in the alleged hacking.
Ziiki Media responds to Bahati
In a statement addressing Bahati's claims, the company emphasized that there was no substance or explanation provided to support such serious accusations. Ziiki Media vehemently denied all allegations made by Bahati, refusing to dignify them with further explanation at this stage.
"We refer to the unfortunate post on Instagram by one by our artiste Kevin Kioko a.k.a. Bahati, from Kenya.Bahati has claim in his post that Ziiki Media has 'hacked" his YouTube channel, taken down one of his songs "illegally., and has refer to the company as "fraudsters", without any explanation or substance to such an incriminating statement."
"We vehemently deny the statement made by Bahati in the above post in its entirety, and do not wish to dignify such brazen lies by explaining any further at this stage," Ziiki said in a statement.
READ: Bahati, Diana Marua announce wedding after 7-year 'marriage'
Demanding an unconditional apology from Bahati, Ziiki Media expressed their disappointment with the defamatory nature of his post. They requested that the singer immediately remove the offensive content.
Ziiki Media clarified that they have been distributing Bahati's music since October 2020, in accordance with legally binding contracts signed by both parties. Like any contractual agreement, there are obligations that each party must fulfil. Failure to honour these obligations can lead to consequences that may be unfavourable for the party at fault.
While acknowledging Bahati's extensive social media presence and his millions of fans, Ziiki Media asserted that social media platforms are not the appropriate venues for resolving legal matters.