Tiffany Haddish defends Zimbabwe supermarket video that sparked backlash: ‘The media be lying’

Actor and comedian said she posted the video to counteract stereotypes about the African continent

Tiffany Haddish has hit back at social media users who criticized her video of a visit to a supermarket in Zimbabwe, saying that she had been “told for years that people are starving in Africa.”

The Girl’s Trip actor and stand-up comedian, 44, sparked a backlash after posting a TikTok video from the capital, Harare.

In the video, she shows off shelves lined with produce and says: “They got a grocery store! It’s beautiful.” She goes on to pick up items including organic strawberries, sugarcane and dates.

On social media, some users felt the video was patronising. One user wrote: “They think we’re chasing lions and zebras.”

Another posted the video on X/Twitter, along with the caption: “Tiffany Haddish is surprised that there’s a grocery stores in Africa..? What’s wrong with these people?”

Haddish responded to that comment with a message of her own, writing: “I am an American a Black one at that and Told for years that people are starving in Africa, showed pictures of babies with flies on them.

Tiffany Haddish in 2020 (Getty Images for Allen Media Group)

“Told crazy stories of how they kill each other and there is war everyday there. I asked my black friends to go with me and they were scared. We got here and I have been eyes full of tears finding out the truth.

“The media be lying. I thought I would share cause I know people in the USA that believe Africans don’t have anything.”

Some users responded to Haddish’s message by saying they understood what she was trying to accomplish.

“Thanks [Tiffany Haddish] there are some Zimbabweans like us who understand very much where you are coming from with this,” wrote one.

“Especially Zimbabwe is portrayed as a country that is in the 50s and 60s. Just like they do on Russia and North Korea. Like any other country, we have our problems but we are a country that has fought bullying and attempts to turn us into a vassal state.”

It is not the first time Haddish has sparked controversy on her travels. Earlier this year, she emotionally defended a trip to Israel by saying: “I wanted to see with my own eyes, hear with my own ears.”

Speaking to TMZ, Haddish said that the reason for her trip was to understand more about what has been happening on the ground in the country following the 7 October attacks and their aftermath.

“I can’t believe everything that I read,” she said. “I need to go see for myself. I want to talk to the actual people that’s here, the people that actually experienced the situation that happened on the 7th.

“The people that actually have family members that are hostages that were taken out of their own homes, that were on their way to work driving from Palestine to Israel, working here on a daily basis, and how they were taken as well. I wanted to talk to the people. I wanted to be with the people. I wanted to see with my own eyes, hear with my own ears.”