Nigerian Comedian Bovi Denies Contact With Drake After Anthony Joshua’s Defeat

Nigerian comedian Bovi Ugboma has joked that he wants no association with Canadian rapper Drake following renewed social media attention around the so-called “Drake curse.”

The comedian reacted after reports and online jokes suggested he had taken a photograph with Drake, a claim he denied in a post on Instagram.

“Never taking a picture with Drake! Never!” Bovi wrote, joking about the popular internet superstition that athletes or teams photographed with the rapper sometimes suffer disappointing results afterwards.

The discussion resurfaced after Nigerian-born British boxer Anthony Joshua suffered a shock defeat to Andy Ruiz Jr.

Joshua had posed for a photograph with Drake months before the fight and jokingly declared that he was going to “break the curse.”

However, Ruiz produced a major upset by defeating Joshua, prompting social media users to revive claims about the supposed curse.

Joshua himself had previously joked about the phenomenon after his original opponent, Jarrell Miller, was removed from their scheduled fight following failed drug tests.

Several other sports stars, including Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Paul Pogba, Layvin Kurzawa and Conor McGregor, had also been mentioned by fans in connection with the online superstition after suffering defeats or disappointing results following encounters with Drake.

The idea gained further attention after Paris Saint-Germain suffered a heavy 5-1 defeat to Lille following Kurzawa’s appearance in a photograph with the Canadian rapper.

There is, however, no evidence linking Drake to the sporting results, with the so-called curse remaining nothing more than a running joke among fans on social media.