African pop star Tiwa Savage has said she is being blackmailed over a sex tape that her boyfriend ‘accidentally uploaded to social media’.
The footage was accidentally uploaded to Snapchat by Savage’s boyfriend last month. It was later removed but it had already been downloaded by a stalker who is now blackmailing the singer.
Savage said she cried when she realised the mistake, fearing the reaction of her fans if the video appeared online again.
But, going public with the attempted extortion, Savage said she was not going to allow someone to blackmail her ‘for doing something that is natural’ and that she feared if she paid then the person would come back asking for more.
She told Power 105.1 in New York: ‘I decided I was not going to pay the person because if I do, two months from now, three months down the line or even two years later, you are going to come back again.
‘Who knows, if I send the money, the person will probably release it. I am not going to let anyone blackmail me for doing something natural.
‘I am not going to call it a sex tape but it’s a tape between me and the person I am dating right now.
‘I am that crazy I could put it out myself – you are not making any money off me.’
She added she was contacted on Wednesday with a copy of the video and a demand for money.
‘I asked him where he got it from and he said he received it about 20 minutes earlier. The video was sent to him and it is a tape of me and the person I am dating right now,’ she said.
‘The first thing I did after I got off the phone was that I sent it to my manager and asked what we should do.
‘The person is asking for money now. The person I am dating is going crazy too. My manager asked how much the person is asking for.’
The singer told the radio station the attempted blackmail had given her sleepless nights as she fretted over how the video could damage to her reputation, relationships with friends and family, and impact her six-year-old son.
‘I am going to talk to him and for me it is even later on when he’s about 15 and someone is trying to be rude to him… I just have to brace him up,’ she said.
