Edgar Obare, you’ve broken our homes, Jalang’o says in wake of ‘Boys Club’ expose

Radio presenter-cum-comedian Felix Odiwuor alias Jalang’o now says the leaked conversations he and his male friends shared on instant messaging service, WhatsApp, were misconstrued and the content used against them by someone bent on ruining their reputation and careers, eventually .

The screenshot of the messages between Jalang’o and his friends, which indicated they were using women sexually for ego trips, were first shared on Instagram by blogger Edgar Obare on Tuesday.

In one of the messages, Jalang’o was ranked Position One based on the number of women he had allegedly slept with and shared evidence with his eight male friends, who formed the now-infamous group Boys Club.

After the screenshots were widely shared on social media, Jalang’o and his friends -- who are all married -- were subjected to condemnation, ridicule and even curses.

And now, Jalang’o has responded, saying: they weren’t given a right of reply, allegations that they sleep with women for fun is unfounded, and that the group wasn’t formed for purposes of bragging about each other’s sexual exploits as alleged by sections online.

Below is his full response that he posted on Thursday, May 21 on his Instagram page that has a following of 1.7 million users:

“The past two days have been very rough for me and my close friends because of the chats from our WhatsApp group.

“Yes, we agree that it was our group, and it is a group that has been there for so many years, and through the group, we have achieved a lot in developing ourselves in different fields; more so, investment, which was the sole reason for the group.

“The boys are not just friends but people we grew up with from childhood, went to school together and achieved a lot together.

“On the chats, you’ve seen, no one will tell you the genesis of the chats or the previous chats but they picked what they wanted you to see, we have been judged, abused and crucified and told that we formed a boys group just to have our pleasures.

“We will not defend ourselves but this was just another random boys’ chat in a WhatsApp group, the difference between us and you is that your chats haven’t leaked out, but I can assure you that in most WhatsApp groups, chats about men, women and money can never miss.

“People have blown this out of proportion, and I can assure you we are totally broken.

“People have called to encourage me and the boys, and others have called to just condemn us.

“We have taken this as a lesson. There is a lot of malice and hate around it, but we can’t go there now.

“What really happened? Or what is the truth? When COVID-19 happened (sic), most of my friends closed their offices, and I requested them to come help me build my YouTube channel. We took one of our apartments and turned it into a fully-fledged studio and that’s where we have been shooting.

“Occasionally, we go to where our guest is or hire a place to work depending on guest's request. We are always done by 2 or 3pm. So, we sit back and just relax, have a boys time and chat. A few [more] friends have joined us too.

“We wanted to create one of the biggest online platforms and we already had clients buying space for marketing and advertising. We were already on a roll gaining up to 10, 000 subscribers per week!

“Rarely did anyone sleep at the apartment unless we had an overnight shoot or editing going on!

“The lies are too many that we, ourselves, are reading these things on the blogs, and [are] just wondering whom they are talking about.

“1. I have not been sent on any compulsory leave. My two-week annual leave began last week and I will be back on radio in two weeks’ time.

“2. There are videos doing the rounds on social media. I can assure you none of them (subjects in the videos) is us.

“3. That we created the group to share women amongst us. That is a lie. That day, we were having a random boys chat and that’s how the photos you see came up.

“It is very evident that the blogger has a lot against me. He started last year when he said we paid girls to come to our event, that story died when one of the girls dismissed him, he then, again, struck in December last year, when I questioned him, he blocked me and claimed that I wanted to kill him.

“He has since blocked me and continues to publish my stories all the time. My friends send me screenshots from his chats, he refers to me as that married man he doesn’t like…

“This year, he tried to write another story from Alex [Mwakideu's] birthday party but since he had nothing to write, he let the story die. On my birthday he threatened to block anyone who posted me on their timeline, and now, even without asking our side [of the story], he has gone ahead and had a field day. He is happy because he gets what he wants, clout! Nothing else.

“What does it benefit you when you do all this? The damage you’ve caused us can never be repaired, Edgar, and I assure you that were it that I was a bad person, this would not have ended well, we will not sue or try to follow on anything, and we will just let this pass, but you’ve broken families, we have lost business and top clients who have pulled out on us.

“It is okay, and we understand them, no one would want to be around us now. We thank clients and friends who have stood by us by seeking to know the truth first. The truth will set us free someday. For now, all we have to do is try and put our heads up above this storm hoping it will soon pass.

“Moving forward, we have learnt a lot from this, we accept our mistakes and ask for forgiveness to anyone we offended, we ask for your prayers and guidance.

“Meanwhile, the show goes on!

“God bless you.”