Actor Joe Kazadi has spoken up against bullying he\u2019s faced for being a foreigner in South Africa and how it\u2019s affected his mental health.<\/p>\n
Calling out a social media troll who questioned when he\u2019ll return back home, Joe candidly spoke of online attacks he\u2019s faced.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am so tired of these unnecessary attacks, and for so long I have been receiving these comments and attacks. I am human too, and they are affecting me in many ways you all don\u2019t understand,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease stop. I don\u2019t bother anyone in this world. My biggest mistake was to be in the public eye. I am attacked on set by co-workers, and on most sets I have to lock myself in the room so I can be invisible to some people, and I hardly even audition because it\u2019s affecting me to know I will only be multiplying more hate on myself, and I would like to say enough. I am someone\u2019s son, father and, most importantly, human.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much blocking will I have to do per day? Enough. I am not a member of any political party. I am just a simple actor. I have been unemployed since 2021, so why so much hate? At times I cry myself to sleep because my inbox is full of such messages from bullies; my anxiety goes up all the time I have to post on these socials or even go to the mall, and at some point I even started wearing a mask just to cover my face so I can avoid these bullies, and the only person I would call when depression from these bullies hits hard has passed away, meaning I am alone. Please be kind because I am literally alone, and I live alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joe said he came to South Africa from the Democratic Republic of the Congo as a refugee child and has been bullied for it since he was in school.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one chooses to be a foreigner in another person\u2019s country. I am a good citizen; I pay my taxes. I have tried to create employment through my company. I have taught the youth how to be responsible fathers. I respect this country. I don\u2019t need this at all, and especially in times like these, I am African, and I will live where I want on this continent because I am home. I am alive, and I am speaking up for myself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI refuse to be the face of all foreign problems in this country because of my fame. I was born in Lubumbashi to a Muluba father and mother. I am not Nigerian. This is 25 years of being called the K word and bullying. If I don\u2019t speak up, who will?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Actor Joe Kazadi has spoken up against bullying he\u2019s faced for being a foreigner in South Africa and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278312,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[53638,37547,103,61,60,134975,410,411],"class_list":{"0":"post-278311","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-actor","9":"tag-foreigner","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-joe-kazadi","14":"tag-mental-health","15":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}