A clip of pop superstar Stevie Wonder declaring his intention to leave the United States and move to Ghana is going viral on Twitter.
The moment: The 70-year-old Motown icon made the remarks to Oprah Winfrey in a segment of the talk host’s Apple TV+ show last November.
- “I wanna see this nation smile again,” Wonder said. “And I want to see it before I leave to travel to move to Ghana because I’m going to do that.”
- “You’re going to permanently move to Ghana?” a visibly surprised Winfrey asked.
- “I am. I don’t want to see my children’s, children’s children have to say ‘Oh please like me, please respect me, please know that I am important, please value me,’” Wonder said. “What kind of sh*t is that?”
The segment racked up thousands of views on Twitter this week after being posted by a Ghanaian tech influencer and a Nigerian newspaper.
Background: The Detroit Free Press noted that Wonder, known offstage as Stevland Hardaway Morris, has been threatening to move to Africa since the 1970s.
- But his plans may be accelerating, as he told the newspaper in August that he had acquired land in Ghana.
- The blind singer has been an outspoken proponent of social justice causes in America, including reparations and Colin Kaepernick’s anthem-kneeling protests.
