Reaveling The Unexposed About Joe Blue (1st Runner up Nigerian Idol season2)

Revealing the Unexposed about Joe Blue (first runner up Nigerian Idol Season 2)

In recent times the entertainment industry has always proven to be a sphere of controversies, ranging from the lyrics in artists songs, social media troll and the assumption fans make from celebrities actions, not to forget the eyebrows that are always raised when they discover a piece of artists background.

Skibbonews had a recent heart to heart talk with the dexterous vocalist who tore our hearts apart with his delivery of legendary songs in the Tv show Nigerian idol Season 2. In an emotional and unconditional way he exposes a heart touching and intriguing story of his background.

Joe Anthony Ekpo, popularly known by his stage name Joe blue, hails from Akwa ibom state, Mkpat Enin local government. Joe blue who is currently 27 years is the second child from a family of 6. He grew up in a Christian home which at that time was also a traditional home with a very large extended family. Joe blue’s family at the time was built on an ideology that everybody in the family was assigned to different responsibilities. But at a very tender age of 4 he noticed he was different from every other person, he observed that he looked very much like a girl, which attracted names like boy homo, woman wrapper and all. Ever since Joe blue was young he was never accepted by his extended family Ekpo, he was rejected and always depressed, he grew up with the stigma of non acceptance as he was always left behind to walk alone when the family goes for a vacation, they didn’t want to bear the cause of a relationship with this strange looking guy that behaves like a woman. The Joe blue non acceptance knew no boundaries as he was an object of mockery in his neighbourhood.

Joe got to know about his sexuality at the age of 10, he observed he was always attracted to same sex, he had to align with the wave that there was a time he was caught having an affair with some guy in his neighbourhood, Joe points out that he was disgraced, beaten, and was disowned by his parents, it was a family friend that pleaded and helped him get back to the house. 

Growing up for Joe blue was very difficult that even his gift which was singing faced a setback of him having a voice of a woman, this contributed to the shame and disgrace that has been piled up already. It further punctured the line of career he wanted to go into, so he eventually ventured into gospel music as he believed it is non discriminatory, but still churches couldn’t understand his pride as he sounded like a girl, he was often times being accorded women roles in a song

Joe blue could recall a very terrible event where he was almost raped by some guys in his neighbourhood but escaped narrowly he eventually got beaten horribly by the same set of guys that he was rushed to the hospital.

Gaining independency at the age of 18 he took his musical career more serious as he went to several music auditions and of course Nigerian Idol.  Joe blue points out how it was also difficult for him in the competition as he continued to receive bullies from social media, ridicule chants from the audience when he steps on stage because at that time he was a fashion designer which influenced his dress style on stage and was an object of mockery at the receiving end. He recalls how his voice and his theatrical stage performance stood out in the competition. While in the competition Joe blue had two friends that were very close to him throughout the competition. Towards the end of the competition one of the two friends which he rather keeps anonymous leaked his name to social media that he was gay, this caused sponsors to start withdrawing from him and caused him to be destabilized in the competition but by virtue of grace he pulled through, which a factor of the judges love towards him was an advantage to, it got to a point that he was even accused to be having an affair with Charlie boy who is known to be a notorious controversial celebrity. The scandal stood a factor that disqualified him from being the winner of Nigerian Idol. Ever since then it continually affected his career as Nigeria as a country hated the image of homosexuality, this caused a lot of withdrawal from top sponsors, a lot of people didn’t want to work with him because he was gay, he dropped career wise because he portrayed the gay image.

Joe  blue recalled ugly incidents he encountered at the address he lived in Nigeria from being chased by three guys in the night, to being beaten in broad day light to being harassed and robbed of personal properties.

In 2014 he was called for a talk show to encourage youth career wise and clarify the air on his sexuality. He reckons how smart and diplomatic he answered the question as he told them he had receive Christ but that doesn’t change who he is. He did this so as to gain acceptance for who he is, it later helped Yinka Davies see the true side of him and become his Godmother in his musical career.

Joe’s gospel career was still struggling as he had to face criticism when he steps on stage, he recalls comments like “he is good but he is fucking around with guys”. He had to relocate to different vicinity periodically just to ensure his safety, All of this spearheaded his reasons to move out of the country. 

Joe blue is currently in the United states of America and in his last words in the heart to heart talk we had with him, he promised to keep doing good music and make his fans and Nigeria at large proud.