Popular Nigerian rapper and activist, Folarin Falana, better known as Falz, has refuted claims of having any personal relationship with controversial crossdresser Bobrisky. This clarification comes in the wake of his ongoing legal battle with Nigerian social media critic, VeryDarkMan (VDM).
The issue stems from last year when VDM leaked what he claimed was a phone conversation between Falz and Bobrisky while the latter was in prison. The release of the alleged call led to widespread online speculation suggesting a possible homosexual relationship between Falz and the crossdresser.
In response, Falz and his father, renowned lawyer Femi Falana (SAN), filed a defamation lawsuit against VeryDarkMan. During an interview with Arise TV on Wednesday evening, Falz shared an update on the case, revealing that the defendant has yet to present a defense.
“Update on the court case, very much still in court. There’s a substantive suit which myself and my dad are alleging defamation. We filed the case and ever since we filed the case, they have never entered the defense. Instead, they entered a preliminary objection saying the court doesn’t have jurisdiction to hear the case or something,” he said.
He added:
“As at the last date, I was in court. The court has thrown out that preliminary objection. Now they have to enter a defense or the court will just go on to rule on the case. So that’s the update. I can’t really say much about the subject of current litigation, so I will leave it there.”
Addressing his connection to Bobrisky, Falz made it clear there was never a prior relationship. He explained that his only interaction with Bobrisky came when the crossdresser reached out to him via Instagram asking for help.
“I never had any relationship with Bobrisky prior to that phone call. He messaged me on Instagram and said, ‘I’m in this case and I want to speak to you about how you can help.’ And you know, thousands of people messaged me about similar stuff like that. This is not a special case; it’s not exceptional in any way,” Falz said.
Explaining why he responded to the message, he added:
“In a lot of those cases, I will give them an audience, like what is the P, how can I help? Compassionately. Little did I know. Anyways, as they say, once bitten, twice shy. At the end of the day, I’m not going to, maybe I’m not going to help anyone again in my life, but maybe I will be much more conscious.”
As the defamation suit continues in court, fans and observers await further developments in the high-profile legal showdown.