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Tiffany Haddish raised irate Zimbabwean cackles recently when she posted a video on TikTok of her marvelling at the fact that our northern neighbour has a modern grocery store.

Seemingly amazed that there are grocery stores in Africa at all, she marvelled at the rows of shelves with soft drinks, frozen meat and fresh fruit. “Look at this grocery store. It’s humungous, in Africa.”

The American comedian defended the video of her visiting a supermarket in Zimbabwe, saying it was aimed at dispelling perceptions that there was “war every day” in Africa.

@tiffanyhaddish #Harar #zimbabwe #africa ♬ original sound – TIFFANY HADDISH

Haddish responded to the criticism on X , saying that she had been taught a false narrative about Africa.

“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”. To be honest, that sounds more like a US election rally, or sadly, a school day in Texas.

Haddish, however, said that her trip to Zimbabwe has opened her eyes and that she has been “finding out the truth “about the continent”.

“I thought I would share cause I know people in the USA that believe Africans don’t have anything.”

She didn’t have to come all this way for that. Just Google us. Zimbabwean commentators quickly pointed out her ignorance.

“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.”

“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.”

Wait until she walks into an electronics shop, it’ll blow her mind.

She’s a fine comedian, but Tiffany seems to have learned nothing from her previous visits to our backwater continent. Especially her 2018 visit to Eritrea, where she praised long-time ruler Isaias Afwerki, despite most of the country seeing him as a dictator.

Then again, some countries (ahem) seem to have trouble identifying dictators these days.

[source:bbc]