BBC clears air on ‘prostitute’ claim by Nairobi socialite on documentary
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has cleared the air on claims by Nairobi socialite Bridget Achieng over a documentary that she says portrayed her as a prostitute.
Bridget was featured in an explosive ‘Sugar’ documentary series recently aired by the broadcaster.
In one episode, Achieng revealed shocking details of how young girls are forced by ‘sponsors’ (sugar daddies) to do shocking things like sucking their toes in exchange for cash.
GUNS BLAZING
The socialite however came out gun blazing soon after the episode was aired, claiming that the BBC had misled her on the nature of the documentary, which she claimed ended up portraying her as a prostitute despite her income generating ventures.
Bridget claimed that she had worked with the BBC team for at least two months on the series, only for the broadcaster to edit her appearances on the episodes to few minutes thus painting her as one of the prostitutes interviewed.
“I was shocked I did a two months documentary only for them to cut my interviews and make me look like I am a prostitute. I hate the fact that media takes advantage of artists and my interview being twisted,” Bridget complained.
BACKLASH
After a receiving backlash from a section of Kenyans, majority who accused Western media outlets of routinely emphasising negative images about Africa, BBC blamed Kenyan media for misreporting about the documentary.
“Following some inaccurate coverage of Bridget in the Kenyan media, the BBC would like to make clear that as we show in our film, Bridget ran’s a jewelry business, contributes to Nairobi Diaries and leads a Charitable Foundation for Children in Kibera. She currently runs an interior design Consultancy in Nairobi and has recently announced that she is expecting a baby,” BBC noted in a statement.
In the ‘Sugar‘ documentary Bridget had admitted to having started out as a sex worker when she was desperately in need of the money.