The Peculiar Invasion Of YouTube By Fading Kenyan Celebrities

The rush for YouTube gold in Kenya has finally reached its peak. Celebrities who are drowning and are inevitably being forgotten by their audiences are finding a new home in YouTube.

Are they genuine about using this platform to be closer to their fans or is it that they are just never ready to have the spotlight removed from them?

YouTube is a very unique platform. From it influential individuals have emerged in the name of vloggers. Others are turning to the platform to showcase their talents in an affordable way while others are commercializing their hobbies.

Makeup artists like Kangai Mwiti and Joanna Kinuthia have amassed huge online followings through their makeup tutorials and beauty tips. Another crop of individuals like Elodie Zone and Rikkie are documenting their lives.

But there is a group of self-entitled human beings from the mainstream media who fit in the stardom status of traditional media who have invaded YouTube and churning out content regardless of whether the target audience relates or not.

Kenyan celebrities are the most selfish and narcissistic of their kind. Anytime a secular artist is fading away they turn to gospel and kick off tasteless media tours describing how Jesus Christ saved them from the jaws of worldly things.

A socialite who is growing old will either release steamy photos and claim they have been leaked or end a relationship in a nasty way to regain momentum.

All these styles have been unearthed by Kenyans and seeing that they have ran out of options they are turning to YouTube. Their YouTube channels are a great contradiction of what YouTube is supposed to be, authentic, and riddled with PR gimmicks synonymous with mainstream media.

With a total following of more than one million across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, veteran journalist Kalekye Mumo failed to crack YouTube with her channel The Me I want With Kalekye Mumo failing to kick off.  Kalekye Mumo gave up the channel to What’s Good Network but has since stopped filming for it.

Adelle Onyango who runs a breakfast show on Kiss FM also started a YouTube channel but failed miserably. So low are her views that she rarely mentions the channel anywhere else. Others like Sheila Mwanyigha are also struggling.

The recent entry of Vera Sidika into the ecosystem has left many people wondering how far these fading celebrities are willing to go to salvage what is left of their dying careers.

When your time to be forgotten comes, it is important to note that this is your inevitable end.