Paul Adom-Otchere, the host of Good Evening Ghana, is of the view that three of his colleague journalists, Nana Aba Anamoah, Bridget Otoo and Serwaa Amihere went overboard with their humiliation of a cyberbully who was auditioning for ‘The Next TV Star’ reality show.
According to him, even though the young man identified by the name Journalist Albert erred, he should have been given the chance on the GHOne platform to exhibit what he is made of.
Journalist Albert was humiliated when he auditioned for the ‘The Next TV Star’ on GHOne to be mentored by Serwaa Amihere and Nana Aba Anamoah who had previously been a victim of his constant bullying on Twitter.
Renowned broadcaster, Nana Aba who was a co-panellist called out Albert for spewing ‘nonsense’ on social media and also dared him to say it to her face.
“…when you, you write this; hey Serwaa, we know what you’ve been up to in this country. What do you know? You sit on Twitter utter nonsense about people, you said horrible things about me, Bridget, Serwaa, Lydia and other people on Twitter. I’m here, say it to my face,” she told Albert during his audition.
Reacting to this development in an editorial on his Good Evening Ghana show on Tuesday, November 16, Adom-Otchere said, “I think, we should give our young people a chance, not just a small chance, a very big chance. Let’s allow our young people to make mistakes, let’s correct them, let them grow and be better people because the future of our country is in the hands of our young people.
“So, let’s not destroy our young people by doing what happened to that guy. That guy’s confidence is shaken, he is never going to put himself up again. I thought it was an opportunity, yes for the ladies to bring the matter up but beyond bringing the matter up, for two particular reasons, one that they were on a professional platform, they were on a public platform, therefore, they cannot say they own it […] I am saying that my three colleagues maybe should not have used the occasion to go all the way. It’s good that they brought the matter up, but they should have encouraged the guy.”
Paul Adom-Otchere, who, himself, is a victim of a cyberbully indicated that sometimes he is tempted to attack people who abuse him on social media but he does not do that.
He indicated that the only time he has attacked people on his show is when somebody attacked him for what he has done on his political talk show like Johson Asiedu Nketia describing him as a lotto forecaster, there, he had to revenge.
He noted even though his colleagues did well in bringing the matter up when the cyberbully appeared before them during the audition, “I’m sure that if they queried him and continued with the process, just make a joke out of it, perhaps, he will come back on Twitter and say he regrets, he won’t do that again…”
Adom-Otchere explained, “when people don’t know you, they will assume your character as the character they see on TV but for a lot of us, what we are doing is only acting according to the purpose that we are doing […] but I’m just saying that our three colleagues should not have used a public platform to at the guy…”
“I think that Nana Aba Anamoah, Bridget Otoo and Serwaa Amihere went overboard in the way they dealt with the guy. I understand them, they are protecting their image; the reason why they are protecting their image is as a society, we do not protect women…,” he stressed.
Source: ghanaweb.com