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American rapper and activist No Name caused an uproar on Thursday when she commented on the murder of Nathaniel Julius on Twitter.
The death of the teenager, who had Down syndrome, sparked fierce running battles between police and residents in Eldorado Park on Thursday after angry community members accused police of shooting the boy.
Taking to the streets to vent their frustrations, they threw stones and petrol bombs at SAPS and Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) officers.
The horrific scenes unfolded throughout the day, as the family of the slain teenager mourned.
Nathaniel was allegedly shot by an officer who later dumped him at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, where he died.
As the news broke many South Africans shared the story, which made its way to Black American Twitter.
Grammy Award winner Solange Knowles shared a post about the teenager’s death and said: “Rest in peace young Nathaniel Julius. Happy Birthday beautiful Toyin. We are still fighting for you Breonna. There’s such a limit to these words, but we will never forget you. What is justice with all of this loss & pain.”
However, it was relatively new rapper No Name who sparked public outrage when she tweeted a post about Nathaniel and said: “hey @Diseny if black is king y’all boost this”.
Many users expressed their disapproval, especially since No Name’s radical activism hasn’t been well received in the past.
“It’s amazing @noname accused Beyoncé of using Africans as props in Black is King but here she is doing exactly that with a dead, disabled child. I’m so disgusted,” said @naledimashishi
“A mother has lost her child, a community is in pain and this is your hill? You are trash. SO, ACTUALLY F*** YOU & YOUR SELF CENTERED ACTIVISM,” said @NicsDVdR
Following the backlash, she deleted the post and issued an apology.
She said: “my intention was not at all to use Nathaniel’s death to critique beyonce. i apologize if that’s how it came off. it just hurts to see @disney a billion dollar company profit of the likeliness of black folks and not do anything to support when blk people dying from state violence.”
However, this also didn’t sit well with many users and she faced further criticism which led her to deactivate her Twitter account.
