“Kitenge” artist Nviiri has surprised his fans by taking sides amid heated online discourse about the Africa Forward summit, which took place at two venues: the University of Nairobi and the Kenya International Conference Centre on May 10 to 12.
One of the main talking points that has emerged from the debates is the role of celebrities and influencers as cultural ambassadors, especially when interacting with global leaders.
As part of the Africa Forward summit, popular online chef and former Olympic rugby star Dennis Ombachi, now famous for hosting and cooking with celebrities on his balcony, hosted French President, Emmanuel Macron, for a cooking session on “the balcony”, while marathon legend and Kenyan hero, Eliud Kipchoge, accompanied President Macron on a jog through the city on Monday morning and “Finale” artist Bien was seen having dinner with the French President on Sunday in a video that has since gone viral.
All three have received both backlash and support from Kenyans online for being the cultural welcome wagon for President Macron, who arrived in the country on Sunday.
Following this discourse, Nviiri Sande, better known as Nviiri The Storyteller, offered his thoughts on the matter.
“There’s a dangerous trend of artists mistaking proximity to power for impact,” he began. “As Africans, we cannot continuously speak about culture, liberation and community – then comfortably sit at tables with governments whose histories on this continent are rooted in exploitation, extraction and control.”
Adding, “And no, France does not get to call itself ‘Pan-African.’”
Nviiri was referring to comments made by Macron during one of his speeches at the Africa Forward Summit in which he said “we are the true pan-Africanists. We believe Africa is a continent with much to build”, adding that Africa has “the highest growth in the world”.
These comments further fueled online discourse, inviting African scholars and leaders from across the continents to join the debate.
Nviiri also had thoughts on what true Pan-Africanism looks like.
“Pan-Africanism was born from resistance against colonialism – not from the same powers that benefitted from it,” he said. “Across West Africa, people have been risking everything to push back against French influence and neo-colonial control.”
The “Niko Sawa” artist also expressed his frustration with his colleagues, saying the welcome wagon felt disconnected from “true African solidarity.”
“Watching Africans roll out red carpets, smile for cameras and celebrate these same structures feels deeply disconnected from the spirit of true African solidarity. A friend to my enemy automatically becomes my enemy.”
To conclude, Nviiri said: “We cannot claim to stand for African liberation while entertaining the very systems many Africans are actively fighting to free themselves from.”
Bien
File Photo: Bien NBA Africa
In contrast, Bien, who has received backlash from a section of his fans for dining with Macron, offered a more succinct defence on X, saying he did not betray himself, nor did he change his identity while sharing a meal with global leaders.
“I can sit at a table with global leaders and still remain fully African, fully critical, and fully myself. Presence is not submission,” he said.
However, his defence has not been received well, with many arguing that his “presence was submission.”
The Africa Forward summit concluded on Tuesday evening with a concert dubbed Le Concert, organised by Trace East Africa.
A KBC TV Producer, Benard Timbe, who directed and produced the documentary, ‘Against the Waves: Commemorating the 2004 Tsunami and Building Resilience in Disaster Risk Reduction’, has won an award at the 2026 African Union of Broadcasting Media Awards(AUB) under the Migrations category in Gambia.
The documentary, produced in conjunction with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, highlights the work of the National Disaster Management Unit as they participate in disaster simulations called Mass Casualty Drills, aimed at better preparing for national disasters.
Shot entirely in the coastal region, the film follows Christopher Odinga, a 46-year-old sand sculptor living with a disability whose livelihood depends entirely on the ocean. Still haunted by the trauma of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Odinga’s experience exposes the harsh realities that persons with disabilities face during emergencies, from limited mobility to exclusion in preparedness planning.
Speaking to KBC Digital, the director and producer of ‘Against the Wave,’ Benard Timbe said he and the team were “overwhelmed with joy” the first time they got the call.
Before winning the AUB Media Award, the documentary had already been shortlisted among the top three films in the African Way of Life category at the Africa Media Awards held in Ethiopia in 2025.
Benard Timbe (second from L) with fellow finalists during the #AfricanMediaAwards Gala held on December 4, 2025, in Addis Ababa.
Speaking about the call from Ethiopia, he said: “I was super excited, overwhelmed with joy, and could barely keep calm at work that afternoon after receiving the news. To imagine that my story had made it to the top three shortlist among nearly 1,000 entries, earning recognition as one of the best documentaries nominated for a continental award, gave me immense gratification.”
Answering the question about his response to this 2026 win, Timbe said he had received the news with more grace and with a vision for the future.
“Surprisingly, I wasn’t excited that much because I sort of expected the news, given the story had already made it to a continental stage (African Media Awards) and I was almost 100% sure it was just a matter of time before my story could be the ultimate winner of a continental or global award. If anything, my focus now is to go global. I think winning an accolade of that calibre will excite me more.”
Benard Timbe with Arsenal Football Legend Emmanuel Adebayor
Beyond creating an award-winning story, Benard wanted to tell a “human” story that covered the environmental changes caused by climate change.
“Doing human interest stories that focus on climate change and environmental issues affecting people’s livelihoods gives me great satisfaction,” he said. “I tend to focus more on solution-based journalism rather than reactive reporting, which often overlooks the fundamental principles of creating awareness, promoting mitigation measures, and addressing the root causes of disasters.”
The documentary, which features interviews with the Director of National Disaster Unit, Dr Onyango Ochieng, Director of Meteorological Services, Dr David Gikungu and residents of the coastal region, captures how important it is for the safety of the people living in the coastal region to have a rescue team that is well-equipped and trained to deal with disasters.
It is this rich narrative thread that Timbe believes makes for a great story.
“A narrative without perspective is just noise with better lighting,” he said. “Therefore, as an individual, I intentionally strive to remain authentic, objective, and thoughtful in perspective while crafting a story, because the angle you take is what makes a story distinct and sets it apart from the rest.”
The documentary is available to watch on KBC’s YouTube channel.
Cannes Film Festival rolls out the red carpets on Tuesday, May 12, for its annual showcase in France, grappling with the dizzying speed of AI-powered disruption and the absence of major Hollywood studios.
In its main competition, a total of 22 films are vying for the prestigious Palme d’Or prize for best film, which was won last year by the highly political Iranian movie “It Was Just an Accident” by Jafar Panahi.
But as usual in the build-up to the world’s biggest festival, off-screen talking points have dominated the conversation, most notably how to cope with changes wrought by artificial intelligence and Hollywood’s decision to ghost the event.
Cannes director Thierry Fremaux came out strongly against AI and its effect on the industry, where job losses are mounting for dubbing artists and translators, while writers and actors fear for their livelihoods.
“What is certain…is that here in Cannes, we stand with the artists, we stand with the screenwriters and we stand with everyone in these professions, with actors and voice actors alike,” he told a news conference on Monday.
He suggested that in the future films could be given labels like those for organic food and wine, and “we will say ‘this film has been made without artificial intelligence’”.
Nonetheless, the festival announced Monday that it had signed a multi-year sponsorship deal with social media giant and AI technology investor Meta.
Industry fears
Mark Zuckerberg-owned Meta is at the heart of a brewing controversy about the latest film from Oscar-winning “Traffic” director Steven Soderbergh, which will premiere in Cannes.
Soderbergh partnered with Meta to obtain an AI-generated video of the late Beatles songwriter John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono for his documentary “John Lennon: The Last Interview”.
The use of AI was central to the 2023 strikes that shut down Hollywood, as actors and writers warned that unchecked technology threatened the industry.
Thousands of French actors and filmmakers warned in an open letter in February that AI tools were “plundering” talent across the industry, comparing them to a “devouring hydra”.
Soderbergh is a rare Hollywood heavyweight in Cannes this year, with others such as Steven Spielberg and Christopher Nolan, hoped for by organisers, failing to appear on the programme.
‘Come back’
The world’s biggest film festival typically spotlights independent, arthouse cinema while relying on Hollywood to provide a dose of mass-market entertainment.
But no major US studio agreed to launch a blockbuster this year, or at the Berlin International Film Festival in February, raising questions about why giants such as Universal, Disney or Warner are dodging European events.
“I really hope that the studios come back,” Cannes director Fremaux said Monday, attributing their absence to scheduling issues and industry turmoil.
He stressed that American cinema was well represented, with “Paper Tiger” by James Gray starring Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson, as well as “The Man I Love” by Ira Sachs featuring Rami Malek, in the main competition.
There will be no shortage of A-listers on the celeb-heavy red carpets.
A late addition to the programme includes a cast reunion to mark the 25th anniversary of “The Fast and the Furious”, with Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster set to appear at a special screening on Wednesday.
Plane-mad legend John Travolta will bring some stardust when he unveils his directorial debut, “Propeller One-Way Night Coach”, about a young boy’s journey in the “golden age of aviation”.
The festival will open with a screening of the French film “The Electric Kiss” before the main competition starts on Wednesday, judged by South Korean director Park Chan-wook and Hollywood heavyweight Demi Moore, among others.
Celebrities, filmmakers and creators arrived at the 12th edition of the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCA) in Nigeria with dramatic trains, sculptural gowns, shimmering fabrics and heavily theatrical designs that once again transformed the event from an awards show into a spectacle of style.
Held at the Eko Hotel and Suites in Lagos, the annual ceremony celebrates achievements in African film, television and digital storytelling, while also serving as one of the continent’s biggest cultural showcases where celebrities compete for being best-dressed, as much as they do for awards.
This year’s carpet leaned fully into an excessive display of fashion.
Several celebrities walked in with entourages, helping carry oversized outfits through crowds of photographers and screaming fans.
Here’s a look at some of the most talked-about appearances and moments from the night.
The red carpet turns into a bakery
Reality TV star Queen Mercy Atang arrived in one of the evening’s most attention-grabbing looks, a dress made from more than 500 loaves of bread, she said.
Surrounded by two maidens carrying trays of bread, several assistants helping carry the outfit across the carpet, Atang struggled to move freely.
Speaking to the BBC, she said the outfit was designed to promote her bread-baking business and insisted the appearance was intentional marketing rather than shock value.
“What other place is better to advertise my business than the AMVCA?” she said.
The dress was designed by the iconic Toyin Lawan of Tiannah’s Empire, who commented on Instagram that she’s beginning a trend of “everyone wear your business”.
The look immediately became one of the night’s biggest social media talking points.
Some social media fans hailed the design, describing it as “a true definition of carrying your business on the head”.
However, not all fans were impressed. Some said the display represented a waste of food, a suggestion the reality TV star rejected.
Nana Akua Addo arrives dressed like a cathedral
Ghanaian fashion star Nana Akua Addo lived up to her reputation for dramatic AMVCA fashion moments with a silver architectural dress inspired by Cologne Cathedral in Germany.
The heavily structured outfit featured hand-painted window-like details, cathedral-shaped extensions and matching silver accessories, while members of her team helped carry sections of the dress.
Her designer, Abasswoman, told the BBC the design process began in November 2025 and was only completed two days before the ceremony.
According to her team, the outfit was inspired by the famous cathedral’s construction, with the dress intended to reflect both grandeur and craftsmanship.
Uche Montana embraces fire and rebirth
Reuters
Nigerian actress Uche Montana arrived in a dramatic red-and-gold-feathered ensemble she described as representing “fire” and “the rising of the phoenix”.
With red-studded stones wrapped across both hands, the actress told the BBC the look had been in development since the beginning of the year.
While refusing to give the exact amount, she said she had spent “a lot” on bringing the look to life, adding that one of the biggest misconceptions around celebrity glamour is that stars are styled entirely for free by brands.
“A lot of financial and mental work goes into these looks,” she said.
Her appearance capped off a major night for the actress, who also received the AMVCA Trailblazer Award, a non-voting category recognising rising talents making a strong impact in the industry.
Bucci Franklin’s emotional win for ‘To Kill a Monkey’
Franklin pictured
Away from the fashion spectacle, one of the night’s emotional moments came when actor Bucci Franklin won Best Supporting Actor for his role as “Oboz” in “To Kill a Monkey”.
Franklin plays a loud, fiercely loyal cybercrime boss whose character is deeply rooted in Benin street identity. To prepare for the role, he studied Benin influencers, music and dialect details many viewers praised for their realism.
The performance resonated strongly with many viewers, particularly in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region, because of the character’s identity.
Speaking to the BBC after his win, Franklin said although the role had no similarities to his real personality, he was glad he accepted it.
He dedicated the award to his mother, whom he lost seven days before the release of the film.
“To Kill a Monkey” also won Best Cinematography.
Linda Ejiofor makes history with two big awards
Linda Ejiofor emerged as one of the night’s biggest winners making history at the AMVCA as the first person to take home both Best Lead Actress for “The Serpent’s Gift” and Best Supporting Actress for “The Herd”.
Speaking after her win, she told the BBC she had hoped to win at least one category, but said her husband had tried to calm her nerves before the ceremony by telling her she could leave with both awards.
He turned out to be right.
Ejiofor acknowledged her family while reflecting on the wins, describing the moment as deeply emotional saying that her mother went through her Igbo pronunciations, helping her refine the language delivery until she felt confident in the role.
‘My Father’s Shadow’ wins three awards
“My Father’s Shadow” continued its streak of global recognition. It emerged as one of the biggest winners of the night, taking home Best Movie, Best Director and Best Writing.
Directed by Akinola Davies Jr, the film beat productions including “The Herd”, “The Serpent’s Gift” and “Gingerrr”.
The movie, about memories of paternal love, estrangement and loss, made history and received international accolades as the first Nigerian film to be an official selection at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival in 2025.
It streamed in cinemas in Nigeria and the UK.
Meanwhile, Uzor Arukwe won Best Lead Actor for “Colours of Fire”, and industry veterans Sola Sobowale and Kanayo O. Kanayo were honoured with Lifetime Achievement Awards.
Kanayo O Kanayo described his outfit as “ripping in godfatherism, old money and tailored mafia”.
He was styled by Prinz Innovation to represent his on-screen persona of a wealthy and stylish.
Nigerian actor Stan Nze, known for his interpretation of Igbo culture, was styled in black apparel and carried his signature traditional engraved hand fan made with horse skin.
Reality TV star and actor Tobi Bakre brought Yoruba royalty to the carpet, dressed in the traditional agbada designed by Deji and Kola with a custom-made brass staff.
Nollywood actress and producer Monica Friday showed off the flags of seven countries, including that of Iran, embroidered on her purple ball gown. She described her outfit as a tribute to “a bleeding world” and an appeal for peace.
Actress Osas Ighodaro has won the AMVCA’s best dressed for several years, though the category was removed this year but her red carpet looks are usually highly anticipated in Nollywood. She rocked this Veekee James silver corset flowing dress embellished with hundreds of stones and crystals.
Digital creators also walked the red carpet, twinkling and sparkling in cultures and sculpted dresses.
Reality TV star, OJ Posharella, graced the red carpet with a giant bow sitting on her head as she stuns in her multi-layered, colourful outfit she designed herself.
Dubbed Le Concert, the Africa Forward summit will end with a musical concert featuring musicians from across the continent on May 12 at the Kasarani indoor arena.
Organised by TRACE, the concert is meant to be a dynamic showcase of the continent’s musical diversity, blending genres and cultures in a way that mirrors the summit’s broader goals.
In preparation for the show, artists such as Yemi Alade, Abigail Chams and more arrived in the country over the weekend, with many visiting the Kasarani grounds for rehearsals and sound check.
Kenyan artists Savara and Coster Ojwang, who were present at Kasarani, expressed their excitement at participating in the event.
“I’m excited and honoured to be in such a space and to be chosen by the country to do this and represent the country on such a platform,” Savara said. “We have worked hard to create structure, and this is the time to push the nation and our agenda forward. Being able to be in the midst of the greats, I’m so thankful.”
Some of the legendary names expected to perform on Tuesday, May 12, include Congolese superstar Fally Ipupa and Senegalese legend Youssou N’Dour.
While speaking in a recent interview, Coster Ojwang expressed his desire to work with Vegedream and Fally Ipupa, who are both expected to perform at the concert. He also promised attendees a good time.
“We promise you a good time, we promise you good and conscious music,” he said.
On Monday, the Kenya Tourism Board took some of the artists, including Nomcebo, Youssou N’Dour, Coster Ojwang and Abigail Chams, to visit the Nairobi National Park.
Coster Ojwang, Nomcebo and Youssou N’Dour speak to a park ranger/Magical Kenya
The event is expected to kick off with a Green Carpet event hosted by KBC Extra’s award-winning journalist Kalondu Musyimi. This particular segment will be live-streamed on YouTube.
The concert itself will be available to stream on The Trace+ app.
Since the official state dignitaries will be in attendance at the concert, tickets are being distributed through an approval process by TRACE.
The fifth edition of the Nairobi Literature Festival, stylised as the Nairobi Litfest, ended on Sunday after a three-day event that blended literature, performance, politics and imagination mainly at the Eastlands library, with more events taking place at the MacMillan library and the Kaloleni library.
The festival launched with a kids’ show and session on Friday, which is part of the festival’s growing children’s programme, and featured a dance session hosted by MC Orpah.
Presented by Book Bunk and Hay Festival Global, this year’s festival explored “speculative cartography and South-to-South connections”, bringing together writers, thinkers, artists and activists from across Africa and beyond.
Here’s our roundup of the takeaways from the event.
Across the festival, conversations rarely stayed confined to books alone; instead, they spilt into questions about memory, identity, ecology, motherhood and the stories societies choose to preserve.
Congolese writer Alain Mabanckou
One highlight from a panel about Imagination and mythmaking, which included panellists like Congolese writer Alain Mabanckou and Kenyan novelist Yvonne Owuor, explored storytelling as an act of disruption, discussing how fiction can challenge received truths.
“Everything that we have received as history, certainly as people of the Global South, and particularly from Africa, has not necessarily served the truth or served the vision of who we are as human beings…There is a lot of work that now needs to be done to rewrite a story of lives,” said Ms Owuor.
Separately, while adding his thoughts about an African first narrative approach, Mr Mabanckou said more action was needed in place of conversation.
“I think we’ve been talking about PanAfricanism for decades. We talk, we theorise, we say everything, and I am sick and tired of this kind of explanation because we forget to go to the action. All these people, Padmore, Jomo Kenyatta, they spoke about this, but it’s time to express it with our creation.”
It wasn’t the only panel that explored language and narrative. This was also discussed in a panel about conservation and extractive systems, where panellist conservation writer Dr Mordecai Ogada described the enduring “Tarzan Narrative” and how it has influenced conservation in Kenya.
“The Tarzan narrative was a fiction created by Edgar Rice Burroughs in 1912, and is the narrative of a white man who ends up in the jungle in Africa and communicates directly with these wild animals in the jungle and begins protecting them from black people.
“In the first iterations of Tarzan, black people don’t appear, but when they do, they’re interlopers and criminals. This is based in fiction, but it is amazing how closely it has inspired the reality of conservation practice.”
Writer David Mailu on panel about post-colonial writing
Elsewhere, the festival turned toward literary history through a retrospective on post-independence Kenyan fiction featuring veteran writer David Mailu. During his panel, Mailu emphasised the importance of promoting a reading culture that inspired an intergenerational conversation about literary rebellion, censorship and what earlier generations of writers risked in order to publish boldly.
“If we don’t read as a nation, and the world is reading, then we are going down, and we are killing our cultural value,” Mr Mailu said. By now, we should have as many bookshops and libraries as possible.”
Saturday’s thought-provoking conversations bled into a live musical performance where a sing-along session to Mutoriah’s song “Beta” brought levity to a day filled with hard but important conversations.
On Sunday, which happened to be Mother’s Day, the festival turned to mothers examining maternal figures in literature.
Featuring 2024 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature winner and poet, Safiya Sinclair whose memoir, ‘How to Say Babylon’, chronicles her mother’s strength and sacrifices; Ugandan poet and playwright based in London, Dr. Nick Makokha, whose work explores fatherhood and was recently shortlisted for the 2025 T.S. Eliot Prize and award-winning Chilean writer and scholar, Lina Meruane whose essay, Contra los Hijos (Against Children) warns of the dangers of conservative ecofeminist ideals.
This year’s Bafta Television Awards have been handed out, honouring the best programmes, actors and presenters on the small screen in the past 12 months.
The Netflix series ‘Adolescence’ was the breakout star of the awards show, netting four awards and becoming the first show in Bafta’s history to win four in a single night.
See the full list of winners and nominees below.
Drama series
Code Of Silence (ITV1)
Limited drama
Adolescence (Netflix)
Leading actor
Stephen Graham – Adolescence (Netflix)
Leading actress
Narges Rashidi – Prisoner 951 (BBC One)
Supporting actor
Owen Cooper – Adolescence (Netflix)
Supporting actress
Christine Tremarco – Adolescence (Netflix)
Scripted comedy
Amandaland (BBC One)
Best actor in a comedy
Steve Coogan – How Are You? It’s Alan (Partridge) (BBC One)
Best actress in a comedy
Katherine Parkinson – Here We Go (BBC One)
Entertainment
Last One Laughing (Prime Video)
Entertainment performance
Bob Mortimer – Last One Laughing (Prime Video)
Factual entertainment
Go Back To Where You Came From (Channel 4)
Reality
The Celebrity Traitors (BBC One)
Soap
EastEnders (BBC One)
Daytime
Scam Interceptors (BBC One)
International
The Studio (Apple TV)
Children’s: Scripted
Crongton (BBC iPlayer)
Children’s: Non-scripted
World.War.Me (Sky Kids Investigates) (Sky News)
Factual series
See No Evil (Channel 4)
Specialist factual
Simon Schama: The Road To Auschwitz (BBC Two)
Current affairs
Gaza: Doctors Under Attack (Channel 4)
News coverage
Channel 4 News: Israel-Iran: The Twelve Day War (Channel 4)
Single documentary
Grenfell: Uncovered (Netflix)
Live event coverage
VE Day 80: A Celebration To Remember (BBC One)
Sports coverage
UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 (BBC One)
Short form
Hustle And Run (Channel 4)
P&O Cruises Memorable Moment Award (voted for by the public)
Colombian pop idol Shakira on Thursday teased the new official song for the 2026 World Cup, releasing a brief video of the track filmed at Brazil’s iconic Maracana Stadium.
The singer, who also created the 2010 World Cup anthem “Waka Waka”, announced the song, titled “Dai Dai”, in a post on her Instagram account.
In the 67-second video, Shakira appears on the pitch at the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro, where she performed in a free concert at the city’s Copacabana Beach last Saturday before two million people.
Holding the “Trionda”, the official match ball of the 2026 World Cup, Shakira performed excerpts of the song in English, joined by dancers dressed in the colours of a number of teams, including the United States and Colombia.
The song was produced with Nigerian artist Burna Boy and is set for official release on May 14. The clip, also shared by the FIFA World Cup account, ends with the message: “We’re ready!”
Shakira has a long association with the World Cup, performing at the 2006 and 2014 World Cup finals in addition to producing “Waka Waka” for the 2010 tournament.
Kenyan musician Mutoriah is set to bring a live musical experience to this year’s Nairobi Litfest with a special performance scheduled for Saturday, May 9 at the Eastlands Library from 6 pm to 7 pm.
The performance forms part of the 2026 Nairobi Litfest programme, which blends literature and music as well as cultural conversations across several public library spaces in Nairobi.
Mutoriah, known for major hits like “Beta”, is a multi-instrumentalist skilled at playing piano, acoustic guitar, and the bass guitar. He has also worked with Kenyan acts such as Sauti Sol, Wanavokali and Bensoul. He was also a guest producer at Coke Studio Africa in 2019.
The Eastlands Library event is expected to attract festivalgoers looking for a mix of literature and live entertainment, reflecting Litfest’s broader mission of creating multidisciplinary artistic spaces.
The Nairobi Litfest, co-presented by Book Bunk and the Hay Festival Global, will run from May 8 to 10 across venues including McMillan Memorial Library, Kaloleni Library and Eastlands Library.
The festival’s programme this year includes panel discussions, workshops, readings, children’s activities and live performances featuring creatives from Kenya and beyond.
Around 50,000 fans of K-pop superstars BTS gathered outside Mexico’s National Palace on Wednesday to get a look at the group, who waved to the crowd from a balcony after meeting with President Claudia Sheinbaum.
BTS will perform shows in Mexico City on May 7, 9, and 10, with more than 135,000 tickets for the stadium showcase getting snapped up in a matter of minutes.
Some 50,000 fans of BTS welcome the South Korean group at Mexico’s Zocalo, a day before the first of three concerts in the country.
The members of the group wave to their fans from the main balcony of the presidential palace after a meeting with President Claudia Sheinbaum pic.twitter.com/VVaHMHbfdu
The group returned to the world spotlight in March after an almost four-year pause so its members could carry out their obligatory military service.
Kim Nam-joon, one of the members of the group, said to the crowd in Spanish: “I love you, I adore you. Thank you very much!”
“I already told them they have to come back next year,” Sheinbaum said, later posting a photo with the group and holding their latest album “ARIRANG.”
Lizeth Zarate, a coordinator for the Zocalo, Mexico City’s main square located in front of the presidential palace, said the Wednesday crowd was around 50,000.
“They’re my whole world,” Estefany Victoriano, a 25-year-old secretary, told AFP.
Another onlooker, 18-year-old Zoe Perez, was on the verge of tears.
“I’m speechless, and it’s a very beautiful feeling to see them in person. Since I couldn’t get tickets, well, it makes me a little emotional,” she said.
