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The 2020 E! People's Choice Awards nominees are out. Fast-rising Kenyan comedienne Elsa Majimbo has scored a first after she was nominated alongside Nigerian content creator Dimma Umeh, South Africa’s; Sho Madjozi, Thuso Mbedu, Wian, Karl Kugelmann and Zozi Tunzi, as well as Ghanaian actress Lydia Forson under the ‘African Social Star 2020’ category.
Taking to her Instagram account to celebrate the nod by the American awards show whose voting commences October 1 in 44 categories and airs on November 15, the innately hilarious 19-year-old could not hide her excitement on clinching the nomination weeks after bagging a lucrative deal with Rihanna's Fenty.
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“I am so excited and shocked to announce that I have been nominated E! People’s Choice Awards in the category of African Social Star. While I don’t know how I got here so quickly, what I do know is I wouldn’t have gotten here without all of your support. So please continue to show me your support by voting for me with up to 25 votes a day,” posted Majimbo.
News met with open arms by, among others, Dj Mo who wrote “Congrats”, while Nigerian singer and songwriter Joeboy - real name Joseph Akinwale Akinfenwa - added, “Congratulations mami”, so did songbird and actress Patricia Kihoro, “Elsaaaaaaaaa!!! Yes!!!!!!!! This is epic!!! So so well deserved!” For @t.h.e_kat14, Elsa’s E! nomination was vindication: “Remember when. Kenyans cyberbullied her... Now y'aal about to claim her and say Kenya to the world... We'll fly that South African flag higher Miss Mpho!!!”
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Mpho, as she is fondly called in South Africa, had in a July interview with the Guardian confirmed @t.h.e_kat14’s assertion saying she is appreciated more by many of her many fans in the country. “Always go where people accept you. Always go where people love you. And I found South Africa,” said Majimbo. In a recent interview, she went on, “It’s funny that my comedy has garnered more fans outside my own country. The comedy scene here is quite different with most of the jokes in Swahili and about tribes, stereotypes… That’s not my comedy, mine is all about what’s happening in the world.”
Opening up about her journey to stardom, the journalism student at Strathmore University revealed that she started out in 2016 and that the “persona in her comedic videos is not an alter-ego”. “It is me, but it’s not the me that I portray to everyone. It’s the me that I portray to the people closest to me. That side of me is very free with her thoughts and I say what I want and I do what I feel,” she said. Adding: “Being a social media influencer is great but I want something beyond that. I don’t want to be stuck in that social media space forever.”
