Burna Boy to Donate Proceeds from Upcoming Show In South Africa to Victims of Xenophobic Violence

Burna Boy will return to South Africa for the first time following the recent spate of xenophobic violence against Nigerians and other foreign African nationals.

In the height of the violence in September, Burna Boy vowed to never return to the country. Major Nigerian artists including Tiwa Savage cancelled appearances in the country, and echoed sentiments calling on the South African government to take adequate measures to protect foreign nationals. "I have not set foot in SA since 2017. And I will NOT EVER go to South Africa again for any reason until the SOUTH AFRICAN government wakes the f**k up and really performs A miracle because I don't know how they can even possibly fix this," he wrote on Twitter. A radio station in Zambia even banned music by South African artists from their airwaves following the violence.

Now, Burna Boy has announced an anti-xenophobia concert focused on bringing people together, billed "Africans Unite." Nigerian-American artist Jidenna as well as South African artists Kwesta and and Busiswa are also slated to perform, according to CNN.The concert is set to take place on November 23.

According to the artist, a portion of the concert's proceeds will go directly to victims of the attacks. "The first of many! Part of the proceeds will be donated to the victims of Xenophobic attacks by me," Burna announced on Twitter over the weekend. "I really hope we can all keep contributing in our own way to make the world a better and safer place for each other. #AfricansUnite, it's bigger than all of us."

When news first spread that Burna would be returning to South Africa, several online including the artist AKAcalled the artist out for what they believed was a "hypocrisy" given his initial comments. While, the news of Burna's upcoming show has been met with mostly positive responses from both Nigerians and South Africans online, AKA still appears to be taking jabs at the artist. He responded to the news via Twitter, implying that South Africans were the real victims of the violence and that proceeds would need to go to them "for the most part" as a result.

According to a report from Xenowatch, African Centre for Migration and Society shared in the BBC, in 2019 threats, attacks and killings against foreigners in South Africa reached their highest numbers since 2015.

Burna Boy, who recently earned the Best African Act at the MTV EMAs and sold out London's Wembley Arena, is also set to perform at Afropunk in Johannesburg this December.