Afrobeats star Adekunle Gold has spoken on the One54 Africa podcast about the court case that followed a false online post claiming his family had lost their daughter, drawing a hard line between attacks on his career and attacks on his child.
A clip from the interview spread on Thursday, September 10, 2026, after he was asked about the situation in which someone was locked up for tweeting against his daughter. His answer was blunt. He can live with noise about himself. He will not accept lies about his child.
“Somebody had put out fake news about my family losing our daughter and I can take anything; talking about me all day? I’m cool. I signed up for this, but not my daughter. So when I saw the news, I did the right thing. Reported it to the authorities and they took it to court and he was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment or to pay a fine and that was it, but the whole internet went crazy about it,” he said.
He said he chose the legal route instead of street revenge.
“I did the right thing. Followed the right channel. I didn’t use the ‘find the boy and beat him up’ approach that others do. I just went through the right channel and he was dealt with.”
The case began in March 2026, when X user Samuel Adeboye Adeyeye, known as Swanky, posted a fake condolence message suggesting that Adekunle Gold and Simi’s daughter, Adejare, popularly called Deja, had died. The post went viral before he later apologised and said he had shared an unverified screenshot.
On May 15, 2026, the Federal High Court in Lagos convicted him after he pleaded guilty to charges linked to cyberbullying, cyber threats and cyber harassment. He was sentenced to terms that ran concurrently, including two years in prison with an option of a N1 million fine. A benefactor later paid the fine, and he was released in early June.
Read Twitter Troll Jailed for Spreading False Death Rumour About Simi’s Daughter
The ruling split public opinion. Supporters said a child’s name should never be used for clicks. Critics argued the system moves faster for stars than for regular people. On One54 Africa, Adekunle Gold did not dwell on the backlash. He said he reported a lie, the court handled it, and social media still needs tighter rules.
“It’s crazy what happens on social media these days. Sometimes, you’ll see a news about yourself and start wondering when that happened to you. It’s crazy so there has to be some regulation of some sort,” he said.
The couple married in 2019 and welcomed Deja in 2020. They later had a son. Across the same conversation, the singer also spoke about family, sickle cell advocacy and life away from the timeline.