Universal Music Group (UMG) South Africa boss, Sipho Dlamini has made it clear that entertainers are sensitive and usually resort to drug abuse because they lack someone to talk to.
In an interview with Punch Newspaper’s Saturday Beats, Dlamini said the entertainment industry is not without its insecurities owing to uncertainties that set in when new music is put out. He said, “you know it is very scary for a musician to record and release the music because they do not know if people are going to like it”.
Dlamini also admitted that the abuse of substance among celebrities has become rife because of their ability to make it look cool. He said, “I think the problem is that people have made substance abuse look sexy and it has become something people think is normal. People go out for a party and they either smoke something or they are taking alcohol. In the midst of the ‘high’, someone offers you something and since you believe everybody does it, you go ahead.”
He went ahead to blame some managers who do not warn their artistes against drug abuse but instead encourage them and even buy for them. Describing these ones as enablers, Dlamini said, “For these managers, as far as they can get the artiste back on stage to do another gig and get another pay cheque, they do not care about the artiste’s health”.
