Tyla The Grammy winning South African singer had listed Lagos among 34 stops on her tour supporting her new album, with a concert originally scheduled for December 22. By Friday, that date no longer appeared on her official tour website, though her two South African stops in Cape Town and Johannesburg remained listed. Neither Tyla nor her management has explained the change or confirmed whether the show has been cancelled, postponed, or simply removed for now.
Why Nigerians called for a boycott of Tyla’s show
The removal follows a growing online campaign in Nigeria urging a boycott of Tyla’s planned performance, driven by renewed anger over anti migrant sentiment in South Africa. Tension between the two countries has been building for months amid protests calling for undocumented migrants to leave South Africa, raids on migrant owned shops, and reports of violence against foreign nationals.
The controversy intensified after the death of a Nigerian national during a police operation in Cape Town in late July, an incident South African authorities say they are still investigating. An online petition calling for Tyla to be barred from entering Nigeria until the attacks stop has drawn thousands of signatures, and several Nigerian content creators and broadcasters have publicly urged people to skip the show.
The debate over holding Tyla responsible
The backlash has sparked a wider argument over whether artists should be held accountable for tensions between their home governments. Some critics say Tyla’s apparent silence on the treatment of Nigerians makes her fair game for criticism, especially given her large Nigerian fan base. Others, including Nigerian human rights activist and former presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore, have pushed back, arguing that responsibility for xenophobia lies with political leaders rather than musicians. Cultural commentators have noted that Tyla has previously performed in Lagos and collaborated with Nigerian artists, complicating the narrative that she is indifferent to the country.
How this fits a broader pattern
Tyla is not the only South African public figure facing scrutiny over the migration issue. Comedian Trevor Noah drew criticism for fronting a tourism advertisement for South Africa without addressing the anti migrant protests, and reports suggest other South African performers have lost bookings elsewhere on the continent as a result of the tension. South African officials have acknowledged the backlash is affecting the country’s cultural reputation, while maintaining that the government is entitled to enforce its own migration laws and has arrested hundreds of people involved in the protests.
What comes next for Tyla’s tour
Tyla’s broader world tour is set to begin in Paris in October before moving through Europe, the United Kingdom and North America, with her South African homecoming shows still on the calendar for early January.
Whether the Lagos date returns, shifts to a new time, or is dropped entirely remains unclear, and neither Tyla, her team, nor concert organizers have issued a public statement addressing her Nigerian fans directly. The episode has added another layer to an already strained cultural relationship between the two countries’ entertainment industries, one built over years of collaboration now testing itself against a diplomatic dispute neither artist chose to be part of.
