2021 MTV MAMA Awards Postponed
2021 MTV MAMA Awards Postponed. The 2021 MTV Africa Music Awards ceremony which was due to take place on February 20, has been postponed. MTV Base, the organisers of the MAMAs have called off the awards. The Kampala edition was set to be the first-ever live-streamed virtual MTV Africa Awards due to complications arising from the coronavirus pandemic. It was also supposed to be the first time that the awards were to be held in the Ugandan capital Kampala.
“MTV Base is postponing the 2021 MTV Africa Music Awards. We will keep fans updated as we have more news,” MTV Base wrote on its official Twitter account.
No reason has been provided as to why the event was postponed, however, in the last weeks, the awards had come under fire from Ugandans, who argued there’s nothing to celebrate under the current environment. “Currently Kyagulanyi Robert Ssentamu aka Bobi Wine has been put in illegal House arrest for 10 days currently (24/01/21). Citizens are under constant threat of brutality and death from the dictator Museveni. This is because Museveni lost, so he rigged the election and will do anything to silence those who are trying to speak the truth. You should cancel the event and make a stand against this tyrant. It is unacceptable to think this is the right time and place for the MAMA’s. I implore you to do the right thing and cancel,” reads the petition signed by over 100,000 Ugandans.
The awards, known as the MAMAs, which were first held in 2008, were last held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2016. The other time the awards were held in East Africa was in 2009 in Nairobi, Kenya.
Here are some of the reactions to the postponement:
