Opinion: The only stunt Bonang, AKA pulled was saying ‘It’s a stunt’

South Africa’s supposed ‘It Couple’, AKA and Bonang, gave entertainment journalists quite the runaround on Friday and over last weekend with possibly both the messiest and shortest celebrity social media breakup in South African history.

Then at the start of the week, all AKA’s ugly tweets were deleted and we were told that the couple had merely planned a big stunt to see how much attention they could get.

Obviously, though, that’s a big lie, and it’s important to say that we think so because celebrities are prone to thinking that they’re so much smarter than everyone else.

Naturally they know how easy it is for them to manipulate the media, as just one tweet or Instagram post can launch a thousand online headlines.

As the media, we’re often guilty in the mad rush of the 24-hour news cycle of frantically chasing the next viral sensation, the next breaking story, the next sexy picture of a celeb in a bikini on the beach … and a breakup announced on social media replete with swearwords from the Supa Mega … which is iron filings to a magnet.

But we also do sometimes stop and think about what’s really up sometimes. We do reflect. TimesLive already pointed out yesterday that its entertainment journalists discovered major inconsistencies with the idea that it had all been a pre-planned “publicity stunt” intended to boost sales of AKA’s music (or whatever the supposed reason is).

If you believe that, then ask someone to buy you a dumbrella.

The whole point of a publicity stunt is that you normally wouldn’t tell people the whole thing was just a stunt. That’s the only way all that extra publicity actually pays off. It’s a bit like when we watch reality shows and strongly suspect that all those conflicts and beefs between the characters may in fact be scripted. But the “actors” are contractually obligated to stick to the line that it’s “all real, no script, just us as real people living our daily lives in our big mansions and Bentleys … really”.

Obviously when you come out to say something was “only a stunt”, you’re hiding behind the first and most convenient excuse for the most public and childish behaviour imaginable.

Those close to the couple have in any case already made it abundantly clear that the breakup certainly looked very real.

How pathetic. It makes AKA like a six-year-old who, hours after shouting “I hate you!” to his mother, sheepishly stands on one leg, hands behind his back to say quietly: “I was only joking…”

Hauw. Grow up, man.