By: Olamilekan Oke

Overtime, we’ve all developed this act of stanning our favorites and shutting others out. To stan someone or something means to be an extremely passionate and devoted fan of that person or thing, especially a certain celebrity. Stanning could also mean loving a celebrity more than others and not rating the works of others. Currently in Nigeria, our ‘stanship’ act ranges from BBNaija housemates, to stanning musicians, to actors and actresses, and to even comedians. Almost everyone has an artiste he or she stans in all entertainment sectors.

Stanning is clearly different from being a fan. Stanning extends beyond fanship, and it has a bit of hatred towards others in it. In the music industry, we have the Wizkid FC (those who stan Wizkid), 30BG (those who stan Davido), and Outsiders (Burna Boy stans). Things are usually fierce among the members of these three groups, and it is noteworthy that one would hardly find a person belonging to two out of these three groups at a time.

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The same thing happens when it comes to BBNaija. We’ve seen Tacha stans fight and rain curses on people who do not stan their godmother. And most times, I begin to wonder, ‘shey no be juju be this?’. These people we claim to stan at times do not even know we exist. Why waste so much time stanning Laycon and building so much hate for Erica only for them to become friends after the scripted Big Brother reunion?

What Does ‘Stanship’ Cause?

Stanning someone or something often puts one in a condition where they exhibit certain characteristics and attitudes, among which are the following.

Hatred

We all see people on social media fighting and calling themselves names because someone disagrees with their favorite person’s tweet or Instagram post. Stanning celebrities creates hatred amongst us.

Lack of appreciation for the works of others.

Back to the example of Erica and Laycon that I gave earlier. Most people who stan Erica before the reunion came to an end didn’t listen to Laycon’s music simply because their favorite person didn’t like him. There’s no way you’ll hate someone and appreciate their works.

Stanship creates biases

We become sentimental when we stan a particular celebrity, and being sentimental in our judgements means we are biased. A Wizkid stan will tell you Davido has a froggy voice, while a Davido fan will tell you Wizkid doesn’t produce good songs again. These are examples of biased judgements.

What You Should Do to Refrain from Extremity in your Stanning of Celebrities

• Have it in mind that these celebrities are just humans like you and are not perfect.

• Rather than stanning, be a fan of good things.

• Don’t ever fight on social media or physically over a celebrity.

Last year, after Adekunle Gold released his album (Afro Pop Vol. 1), he wrote me a letter the way he usually does and in the mail he said, “…you don’t have to like what all artists put out, but, you MUST be kind. Sometimes, kindness is silence, having this knowledge that no one ever put anything out with the intention for it to fail.”

This should be our mindset whenever we listen to music or see a movie or watch a comedian perform. Who told you it’s impossible to like Burna Boy, Davido and Wizkid at the same time? It’s possible to also be a fan of AY, Basket Mouth and Bovi at the same time. It’s better to be a fan than to stan a particular celebrity because whenever you stan, you deprive yourself of the good music, movie or jokes others are producing. Most of these celebrities you stan and fight over do not know if you exist so why not just be a fan and enjoy the good things they all produce?