Vee�s wedding gets the nation into celebrity drive

Tumie Modise | Monday May 26, 2014 14:18

Not that we don’t even have people befitting the status, in this country, people just mind their own businesses.

The only celebrity is always whoever happens to be the president of the day. Ironically, we idolise celebrities of other nations; we just don’t have time for our own.

What exactly is a celebrity? Oxford dictionary defines a celebrity as ‘the state of being well known’.

Or as Fred Allen brazenly puts it, “A celebrity is a person who works hard all his life to become known, then wears dark glasses to avoid being recognised”.

In the real world, this group of people commands an almost cult-like following. For the majority of them, mingling with crowds in public places is unheard of and for them, a trip to the grocery store is a mission that requires military planning of some sort. 

Last week, one of the country’s top entertainers Odirile Sento (stage name Vee), caused quite a stir in the country with his impending nuptials.

Now, weddings are common occurrences in this country. High profile weddings take place all the time. Chiefs, sports stars, artists, politicians and even the moneyed persons in the country get married all the time. Just a week before this wedding, a media personality got hitched, yet again; a month ago two prominent sport administrators also exchanged vows with most people only learning about the nuptials afterwards through social media platforms. This has been the culture, no big deal.

But with Vee’s wedding, things were very different. From the moment word got out about the invitations to the ‘private’ wedding, all hell broke loose!

Social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook went on some frenzy, heated debates ensued and radio stations fuelled the already blazing inferno with countless talk shows.

The topic was the invitations, or lack thereof. Fans ranted and raved, threats were even issued! What a week! Seasoned and regular social media commentators like yours truly even backed off from the heated exchanges that week!

A day or two before the planned wedding, sanity prevailed. Perhaps even more worried about the backlash himself, the entertainer sensibly also took to social media and explained how he himself, was almost invited to his own wedding by his own parents!

He wasn’t bluffing either when he mentioned to his fans what his parents had told him; that his wedding was NOT going to be turned into some music festival.

You just have to love Batswana, particularly our parents! Celebrity culture or none, our culture precedes everything else. I know Vee’s fans have already forgiven him. Congrats again Kagiso and Odirile. The Modise family has lost a daughter but gained another son.