Stop trying to Normalise Madness

The Nigerian Celebrity Wedding Industrial Complex

Photo by Evelina Friman on Unsplash

There’s something so unhinged about out obsession with a handful of people trying to normalise the worst things.

Everything I learnt about the JP 2025 wedding has been against my will in the last 24 hours. Yet there's value in unpacking what the algorithm and its human foot soldier feed us. When content dominates our feeds with such intensity, we should question why this particular spectacle was selected for amplification and who benefits from capturing our collective attention.

The Obsession with Normalising the Abnormal

I watched a vlog where an influencer documented her extensive preparations as a guest for this wedding. Not as a bridesmaid or family member o, just a regular guest.

I came across her video while I enjoyed my evening TikTok scroll, where we was doing a vlog detailing her wedding prep journey. The hook of the video began with her being in distress of how she almost missed the wedding because her tailor failed to get her design.

She cried to her family, her friends and her man and eventually got another tailor who made a simpler design. The rest of the video was her taking us through other preparations like getting her hair done, makeup done, accessory shopping etc Up to this point, her behavior seemed relatively normal for someone attending a celebrity wedding.

Then came the shocking revelation: the real source of her distress wasn't just about looking good at the wedding. No, she had actually scheduled a professional photoshoot with her boyfriend and her specifically for this outfit. Even more surprisingly, she had rented one apartment for the photoshoot and another apartment closer to the shoot location to avoid commuting that day.

The most baffling part that made me seat up was that this elaborate photoshoot wasn't even planned for the wedding day itself, but nearly a week before the event! For this wedding I came to learn several people had also done this.

Yes whatever reaction you are having now,I too had it.

I’ve heard of the bride and groom doing a shoot of their outfit the morning of the wedding or sometimes days after the wedding but never in my life have I heard the GUESTS doing photo shoots before the event nevermind a whole week before.

All of this to post one or two videos on social media for blogs to repost and for strangers to camp in your comment section either praising you as #Goals or worse tearing you down as not even being fine or your outfit looking terrible.

People’s current obsession with fame as a way to transcend class in Nigeria is to be studied and pitied. In a country infested with low quality elite, the idea that more and more of them will multiply through the backdoors of social media fame is scary and sad.

We’re so desperate to normalise madness rather than rounding up the mentally unstable and getting them the necessary treatment they deserve. Instead like monkeys in a circus show, we force them to perform for us day in day out. From politicians to so called artists to influencers. Nigeria is obsessed with platforming the worst of us and wearing it as a badge of honour and trying to pass it as normal but it is not normal. It will never be normal.

Let’s say that wedding had on average 600-800 people there, at least 100 of them where ‘famous people’ who created content for this wedding and when you do the math spent nothing less than 1 million each to be at that wedding. From the aso ebi, to the sewing of the aso ebi, to the makeup artists, to the jewelry, to the shoes, to the bags, to the videographers, to the video editors, to the pr teams, to the rented cars, to the money they sprayed illegally, to the hotels and airbnbs, thats at least a million naira to attend that wedding. Imagine what 100 million naira could have been used for instead.

In the same country 4-5 hour drives away hundreds of their fellow Nigerians in the middle belt were being slaughtered, reports are coming in that new t*rr*r groups have emerged, the president is nowhere to be found and across the nation through media compliance governance has taken a back seat as APC declares in every single state that it will sweep elections, threatening us with a good time of a single party democracy (read as fascist dictatorship).

Nigeria does not have influencers, it has distractions. These people’s entire life being exists within the zeitgeist to distract from the fact that you’re actually in hell.

They are not Influencers They are Performers.

As someone deeply immersed in internet culture since its early days, I find it naïve when people now declare their five-year plan is to "become an influencer." This approach fundamentally misunderstands what originally made influencers influential.

The original influencers on YouTube, Lookbook, and Tumblr weren't pursuing fame, they were sharing genuine passions and expertise. Their influence grew organically because audiences connected with their authentic interests and knowledge. Brands approached these creators specifically because they had already built communities around shared enthusiasms.

In Nigeria the problem is that "influencer" has become conflated with "entertainer"which are two fundamentally different roles. True influence stems from authenticity and shared passion, while entertainment is inherently performative. When actors like Brad Pitt, Viola Davis, RMD, or Genevieve Nnaji portray characters, they're deliberately creating illusions for you. They are not the thing they are showing at that time.

The influencers here are so caught up in selling aspiration (while living in poverty) rather than deepening any knowledge or sharing genuine interests. This shift undermines the very connection that made original influencers, influencers in the first place. The original relationship was built on give and take but here its alot of taking not enough giving back to the followers.

I would have understood if all the content generated for this wedding was framed as marketing the talent we have in design and tailoring locally or if the fabrics were all hand made locally or trying to highlight videographers or trying to highlight our historical culture but it wasn’t. It was just all empty. I would have even understood if it was all posturing for alcoholic brand to get future brand deals or something but that wasn’t there either.

Nigerians love performers because our trauma response to years of slavery, colonisation, military rule and now a dictatorship pretending to be a democracy is to in a constant state of distraction.

Anything that would force us to actually live in the reality of our very terrible situation is buried quickly and social media is accelerating that as neck breaking speed. Only time will tell the impact of it all when it’s studied 20-30 years from now. It’s why the most famous video of the president is him saying Bala Blue Bulaba and not a rousing inspiring speech of any sort. It’s why the easiest route to be famous now is for a man to put on a wig and wrapper and make comedy skits pretending to be a woman, it’s why Nigerians engage more with a celebrity actress wedding than actually go and pay to watch their movies, its why the most famous people today are coming from big brother and RHOL where people become famous from literally doing nothing and so on. It’s an endless loop of emptiness.

And to add to the delusion we’ve convinced ourselves that all the handful of people in comparison to the hundreds of millions of people who then go out in the world to be excellent then means most people here are “potentially excellent’ and if only they just get more money, more power, more education, more religion we will all be excellent. Yet there is no real data to support this.

That’s why these people can have 3 million plus follower, 7 million followers, throw 300 million Naira parties but can’t influence their followers to vote in an election, they cant influence the street in their road to be tarred, they can’t influence you to even watch their movie or buy the product they’ve been sponsored to sell. They exist to distract.

The Evolution and Consequences of Celebrity Culture in Nigeria

Thirty to forty years ago, a celebrity wedding would be documented in magazines with a few photos here and there and maybe video clips emerging years later in documentaries after they’ve achieved great success.. Today, every detail is instantly broadcast not just on their personal social media but through countless gossip accounts that monetise celebrities' private moments for engagement farming.

The most concerning aspect of Nigeria's social media landscape is how people pursue fame without understanding its foundations, mechanisms, or consequences. They chase visibility without any grand purpose or insight.

For the average young Nigerians, daily social media exposure showcases excessive consumerism (not ever be mistaken as wealth) in one of the world's poorest nations which I imagine is creating profound psychological damage as these displays contrast sharply with everyday reality.

The pursuit of fame in the form of being an influencer, religious leader, or politician often stems from deeper issues. As I've discussed previously on here and on TikTok, this hunger for prominence typically comes from individuals who've experienced powerlessness due to their economic circumstances or Nigeria's socio-political environment. Their quest isn't simply about ego but about gaining control to fill the void created by years of helplessness.

This explains why the "Nigerian dream" is not along the lines of pursuing justice, liberty, or excellence. It appears to be more about seeking power that allows one to control others—essentially, to become the oppressor rather than the oppressed. This cycle perpetuates systems of inequality rather than addressing their root causes.

Celebrities as tools of the State

These extravagant wedding displays aren't about brand deals or freebies as you see in western countries they're about creating a hierarchy where influencers can demonstrate superiority over their followers and co opt it as work. In this way, they function as another arm of oppression of the state, performing elaborate distractions while the country faces severe economic challenges.

As Nigeria experiences devastating inflation and economic decline, these displays of excess serve a purpose: they keep you distracted rather than fighting back. They convince you that with enough "hustling," you too could marry a celebrity, become an influencer jetting around in designer clothes, or achieve wealth beyond your current circumstances.

This narrative discourages critical thinking, especially questioning the source of such wealth in a country where legitimate career paths rarely yield such extravagance. The spectacle deliberately numbs your curiosity about where all this money actually comes from.

I hesitate to say we're NGMI but realistically, certain segments of our population have become so entrenched in this cycle they won’t make it either way. Perhaps the wisest approach is to observe from a distance. You buy your a ticket to the circus but sit in the back row, careful not to be mistaken for a clown who is part of the performance.

I’m curious what do you guys this. Have you noticed this pattern of distraction in Nigeria's social media landscape? Share your thoughts in the comment section about our current so called excess being tagged as “culture now”.