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Nigerian singer Adekunle Gold has described how he was ridiculed online after publicly disclosing his sickle cell illness diagnosis.
Following his admission, the musician claimed to have been "attacked and abused" on social media.
In a recent interview with CNN, Adekunle Gold revealed that he decided to raise awareness about sickle cell disease after summoning the confidence to speak up.
The musician stated that he is trying to make those with sickle cells feel "safe."
He said: “I want people living with sickle cell to feel safe, to feel like they have help and support.
“They call you a sickler… Recently, when I talked about it [my struggle with sickle cell] on the song [‘5-star’], I saw a lot of tweets from people attacking and abusing me.
“I’m speaking about sickle cell disease now because I just got the courage to come out and speak up openly about it. A lot of people can’t share their stories like I can.”
Adekunle Gold said he has been aware of his diagnosis since he was a child, adding that growing up, he constantly put himself in situations that made him sick.
He recalled: “I’ve known about my sickle cell disease all my life. I knew since I was a child that I couldn’t do certain things.
