Nigerian singer has addressed the backlash that followed the resurfacing of her tweets from over a decade ago.
The controversy began after Simi made a strong statement calling for rapists to be “burnt and castrated” amid an ongoing sexual assault case involving TikToker Mirabel, who later retracted her claims. Her remarks sparked mixed reactions online, prompting some social media users to dig up posts from her X (formerly Twitter) account dating back to 2012.
In some of the old tweets, Simi made comments about a four-year-old child having a crush on her and jokingly behaving inappropriately. The resurfaced posts led to criticism and accusations from some online users.
Responding on her X page, Simi clarified the context of the tweets and rejected any attempt to misrepresent her intentions.
“I haven’t been on Twitter today, but someone brought a few of my old tweets to my attention, and I can’t not address it. Fourteen years ago, I was 23, so I was definitely not a child. I’m not here to make excuses because I don’t have anything to make excuses for. What I can’t let anyone do is twist my story to fit false narratives,” she wrote.
She explained that in 2012, she lived and assisted at her mother’s daycare while pursuing her music career, and often tweeted about everyday experiences.
“In 2012, I lived and helped out at my mom’s daycare while hustling my music. I tweeted everything that happened in my life, as we all did at the time. Kids can be mischievous. If a child did something I found funny, I tweeted about it. Kids are cute and lovable. I want to hug, kiss, and cuddle them. I tweet about it. Nothing I tweeted was from perversion,” she stated.
Simi added that she was not famous at the time and did not anticipate that her posts could later be taken out of context.
“I was not famous then, so maybe if I was, I would have understood that anything is open to interpretation, including being used falsely by a faceless mob. I’ve never been depraved in my life. You can retweet all the tweets in the world about me loudly crushing on people I admired or being a cheeky young woman. I wasn’t trying to hide it, because I have nothing to hide.”
She also revealed that some of the old tweets have been deleted for the sake of her family but reaffirmed her stance against sexual violence.
“I have always spoken against rape and sexual assault, even before you knew I existed. It’s not a costume I’m wearing, it’s who I am. I’ve never claimed to be perfect. I’ve never claimed to know everything. I said stop raping women. I stand by it.”
