Ugandan DJ and media personality Etania Mutoni was forced to interrupt her performance after an unidentified reveller allegedly touched her backside twice during a Halloween event in Kyambogo on Saturday night.
A video shared by Etania on her social media shows the entertainer dancing before a man in the crowd reaches out and touches her backside with the back of his hand.
The man appears to make another attempt when Etania slowly lowers herself towards the ground during her performance.
This time, however, she reacts.
Etania pauses, turns towards the man and gives him a prolonged stare before delivering a kick that catches him on the shoulder.
She then appears to warn him against repeating the behaviour before returning to her performance.
The footage has drawn attention to the issue of performers being subjected to unwanted physical contact while entertaining crowds, particularly when they interact closely with fans during live shows.
Etania also addressed the incident on Snapchat, describing the behaviour as disrespectful and calling on parents to teach their sons to respect other people’s boundaries.
“You see how disrespectful a boy child is?! Raise your kids to be better,” she wrote.
The entertainer’s reaction has put the spotlight on an issue that has affected other Ugandan performers during live appearances.
Etania is not the first Ugandan female entertainer to confront unwanted touching while performing. Singers Vinka, Sheebah and Winnie Nwagi have previously been involved in incidents in which fans allegedly crossed physical boundaries during performances.
In 2021, Vinka made headlines after kicking a fan during a performance in South Sudan following an alleged attempt to touch her inappropriately. Winnie Nwagi has also previously confronted a fan over alleged inappropriate filming during a performance.
While performers often engage physically with audiences as part of their stage presence, that interaction does not give members of the crowd permission to touch them without consent.
Etania’s Kyambogo encounter has therefore reignited conversations about personal boundaries, respect and the safety of entertainers working in crowded performance spaces.
For the DJ, the message accompanying the footage was clear: enjoying a performance should never come at the expense of an artist’s dignity or personal space.