Nairobi News

Kenyan comedian Elsa Majimbo, who recently relocated to the US, has said she is never coming back to her home country.

Speaking during an interview with Forbes, Majimbo lamented on the ‘complicated’ relationship she has with Nairobi that has made her reach the decision.

“My relationship with Africa is amazing and I still go back every few weeks. I go back to like Ghana, South Africa, it’s because Africans know how to party and they make amazing food. No offence, but you can never find that in LA. So just that sense of community and belonging is very important to me and I am glad I have it,” she explained.

“I have a very complicated relationship with Nairobi, and there was a lot of… when things started going well for me there was a lot of backlash on me and just a lot of callous things were said to me and surprisingly it was people from Kenya. They were hell-bent on my failure and it was so insane… the rest of the world was cheering me on, Kenya was praying for my downfall. So when I got the chance I packed my bags and I left and I never looked back. And I’m never going back,” she said.

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“We have dark skinned comedians who are women so the comedy they (Kenyans) want them to do is based on self-hatred and I did not do that and they hated that. So it is not culture cancellation. On my part it was straight up bullying and saying wild stuff to me.”

Majimbo rose to fame during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic when she used to post short videos of herself illustrating different scenarios. In 2021 she vented saying she was fed up with online bullying by Kenyans, adding that she’d rather settle in South Africa other than Nairobi for that reason.

At the time she was living in Dubai where she claimed that after she leaves the UAE, she would rather hop from country to country than return to Nairobi. She has, in the past, accused Kenyans of rubbishing her talent.

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Due to her opinion on Kenyans, the teenager, who has the South African flag on her Twitter username, has created virtual enemies with several online users, who accuse her of being unpatriotic.

Despite the negativity, Majimbo has been on quite a roll, imparting an almost close-knit relationship with Beyonce and Rihanna. Rihanna has gone as far as sending her a personal handwritten letter.

In March 2021, Majimbo announced she had collaborated with an Italian top fashion company Maison Valentino on a ‘special project’.

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