Nigerian male Barbie, Okuneye Idris Olarenwaju, who goes by the name Bobrisky on SnapChat, and claims to make a living selling N100,000 naira ($317) skin-whitening creams, has attracted the attention of international media.
This follows the controversy generated in October when Personal Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on New Media, Bashir Ahmad, pulled out of the New Media, Citizens & Governance Conference in because of Bobrisky’s inclusion.
“The inclusion of Bobrisky unfortunately sensationalises and radicalises what should otherwise be a serious discourse on new approaches to media engagement,” said Alder Consulting, whose social media executive, Subomi Plumptre, also withdrew.
Speaking to AFP, the 25-year-old cross dresser said “The organisers invited me to speak on the fact that people are talking about Bobrisky,” characteristically referring to himself in the third person.
“Them withdrawing wasn’t nice. In Nigeria, the majority of people here judge you so fast,” added Bobrisky, who recounts online how his lifestyle is funded by a rich, mystery man he refers to only as “bae.”
“We are in this life once, people should be given the freedom to express themselves.”
In the wake of the scandal, Bobrisky has earned himself a reputation for being a rebel.
It’s a dangerous reputation in a country where in 2014, former President Goodluck Jonathan signed the same-sex marriage prohibition bill, forbidding not only marriage, but same-sex cohabitation and any “public show of same-sex amorous relationship” with penalties ranging from 10 to 14 years in prison.
But Bobrisky, who gets over 150,000 views on each video he posts, insisted his appeal isn’t because he’s a civil rights crusader.
“People love the fact that I’m real,” he said, speaking at his apartment in Lekki, an upmarket suburb in Lagos.
“It’s about the way I dance, because I’m a very good dancer, and my makeup.”
Bobrisky has a slight build, with a close crop of black hair he wears in gelled curls. He’s wearing red sweatpants with a Mickey Mouse cartoon embroidered near a pocket and a hot pink mesh tanktop, as he gets ready for a night out in his small living room, decorated with gold and black wallpaper and a crystal chandelier.
“I’m doing a party look, a diva look,” he said as he applies the first out of many layers of foundation, explaining that he was 12 when he first experimented with makeup. “I liked my mom’s look,” he said with a demure smile.
He finishes his makeup by gluing gold glitter on the inside corner of his eyes near the tear ducts, the sparkling beginning of a swooping cat eye even Cleopatra would envy.
“Beauty is pain,” he said, wincing as he applies the chemical glue, “but this is the one that holds the glitter on the longest.”
Despite general disapproval, Bobrisky says he “doesn’t bother” with the haters and instead is focussing on launching a YouTube channel where he’ll do makeup tutorials.
Bobrisky was detained briefly by the police on Saturday for allegedly punching a woman whom he said was recording him on her mobile phone and later called him a prostitute.
