Ari Lennox may be taking a break from social media after she recently received backlash for sharing her “surreal experience” in Ghana. The “Shea Butter Baby” singer took to Twitter on Friday (Jan. 7) to seemingly announce her departure from social media.
“My heart hasn’t changed. Nobody can take the peace I felt away from me,” she tweeted. “I do not like twitter. Or SM rather. So I’m giving my passwords to my label. Hopefully this will last.”
“Love you all and thanks for the kindness,” she added. While some of her followers did react to Lennox’s posts about the West African country with praise and joy, others blasted the singer for expressing her feelings.
During her trip to Ghana — where she performed at the Afrochella Festival just before the new year — Lennox shared photos of what she called “the most beautiful country” and even asked for help buying a home there. Upon returning to America, she tweeted, “Wow it’s a rare and good feeling to consistently wake up with peace and happiness. I really owe that to Ghana. And I don’t know how long it’ll last but I’ll cling on to this.”
“Depression and anxiety is not fun. It’s truly nice to get a break from it,” she continued. “I’ll never forget suddenly crying the first time going to a beach in Ghana. It was so triggering. And I didn’t feel alone. My heart ached/aches for my ancestors. It was a surreal experience.”
Lennox deleted the aforementioned tweets after several twitter users responded with criticism. “Are your ancestors even from Ghana?” one person replied. “I’m back again. This woman thinks she’s in Wakanda. This is too corny. Omg,” tweeted another
Fans also chimed in to defend Lennox. “Anyway, the visitors saying Ghana is a lovely country because their experiences are not your problem. They are not the people imposing the momo tax and denying you affordable housing. Leave them alone and face your incompetent government,” one tweeter wrote.
“Africans really bullied Ari Lennox into deleting pics of her Ghana visit. Wtf?” one user wrote. “Y’all complain that we make a mockery of Africans but when we try to appreciate the beauty of the continent, y’all say no to that too. SMDH.”
Another Ghanaian tweeted, “Why do we have to do this to ourselves, Ghana is not only beautiful but, a wonderful place, her harm was to tweet that? Sorry Ari Lennox [@AriLennox], we love you!!”
Thankfully, Ari tweeted “she’s good,” and is working on new music in the studio.
Check out Ari Lennox’s most recent tweets below: