Following Arnold Asamoah-Baidoo’s defensive stand against Shatta Wale on UTV’s United Showbiz, the entertainment journalist and analyst has courted admiration from many Ghanaians for his maturity and display of courage.
Things almost escalated after Shatta Wale flared up and rained insults on Arnold when the two clashed on Nana Ama McBrown’s show on Saturday.
Political activist and musician Kwame Asare Obeng, popularly known as A Plus, is one of the few industry persons who have doffed their hats for Arnold for maintaining his composure despite the verbal attacks.
Sharing a photograph of Arnold Asamoah-Baidoo on Facebook, A Plus said:
“This guy!!! Solid guy!! Cool, firm, principled, courageous!! Arnold Asamoah Baidoo.
“You may not like what he says because the truth often hurts, but you see, it is not advisable to surround yourself with people who only say only what you want to hear if you want to be great. You need an Arnold in your life Periodically.”
The genesis of the hot exchange between the two follows Arnold Asamoah-Baidoo’s expressive views on Shatta Wale’s State of the Industry Address during the previous edition of the show.
Shatta Wale had among other things said that Ghana does not have a unique music genre and that has been one of the industry’s major setback. He also urged Ghanaians to support an agenda to play 90% of Ghanaian music and 10% foreign tunes.
Days after his address, Arnold, who is a regular panelist on United Showbiz, lashed out at Shatta Wale describing him “as one of the most inconsistent and confused artists”.
According to Arnold, Shatta Wale had in the past insulted pundits for making the same suggestions he raised in his address hence, needs to render an unqualified apology to them.
A furious Shatta Wale however resorted to insults and self-aggrandisement while ordering Arnold to shut up and stop describing him as confused.
In what appeared to be a threat, Shatta Wale said “You think somebody bi your boy. It’s only on TV that you can do this”.
Arnold in a rebuttal retorted “We are tired of everyday streets. All you can do is call your boys. You can’t scare anyone here.”
Watch the video below.
