Govt. punishes Rosa Ree over nude video with Timmy T Dat

Tanzania’s arts board, BASATA, has banned Rosa Ree from practicing music in the country for six months.

The board said Rosa Ree, whose real name is Rosary Robert, behaved inappropriately in a controversial music video of a song called Vitamin U, in which she featured Kenya’s Timmy T Dat.

BASATA said Rosa Ree’s naked appearance in the song “painted Tanzania in bad light”.

In the music video, which was uploaded to YouTube early November; but later deleted, Rosa Ree, 24, was seen stark-naked in a bathtub with Timmy. Timmy could be seen cupping his hands around her bare breasts.

So lewd was the music video that YouTube users called for it to be pulled down.

And, on November 4, the song was removed from YouTube in unclear circumstances. Timmy, however, said that somebody had claimed ownership of the music video, resulting in the strike.

Following heavy backlash and calls for disciplinary action against the two musicians, Tanzania’s BASATA on November 6 summoned Rosa Ree to their offices in the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, where they interrogated her for hours.

The agency’s deputy executive secretary, Onesmo Kayanda, told journalists that Rosa Ree won’t escape punishment, whatsoever, for her “wrongs”.

“She should have submitted the content for classification before broadcasting it. She worked with a Kenyan artiste without showing us a copy of the contract that she entered into with him, that is against our regulations. It is clear that the musician lacks discipline, and we are sure she will be punished,” said Kayanda.

And now, Kayanda says the board has arrived at the decision of locking the musician out of music for six months “over public nudity”.

On Thursday, November 14, the deputy executive secretary said BASATA has also imposed a Tsh2 million (Ksh89, 000) fine on Rosa Ree for working with Kenya’s Timmy without seeking a formal permit from the agency.

In her defense, Rosa Ree said: “I did not know that posing nude on video was a crime in Tanzania.”

The 24-year-old had — late last week — said she was “sorry” for the “mistake”.