The family of slain rapper Kiernan 'AKA' Forbes is not impressed with award-winning author and journalist Melinda Ferguson's book on the rapper's love life. Melinda announced last week that her latest book titled When Love Kills about the love affair between rapper Kiernan "AKA" Forbes and Anele "Nelli" Tembe will hit the shelves this week.
DISTASTEFUL
Melinda said she had been given the go-ahead by both the Forbes and Tembe family to go ahead with the book. But the Forbes family has come out to say they have not given her their blessing to publish the book. "We are not in any way associated with Melinda Ferguson's book and do not endorse it. In the same breath, we distance ourselves from the contents of the book," the statement said. "When Melinda reached out to us, we respectfully and rightfully declined to contribute to her book. At this stage, we cannot give any further comment on the book as we are unaware of its contents. We do, however, find the intended publication of the book and the timing distasteful and opportunistic." the family said in a statement.
SEASONED
With over five books that she has published, including The Kelly Khumalo Story in 2013 and Oscar: An Accident Waiting To Happen in 2014, Melinda said she had never been more freaked out by a body of work. "I have never been more freaked out by a story. I have never kept a secret like I have this one, but the news has just been leaked on social media," she said. "So here it is from the fire horse's mouth. My new book will hit the shelves next week .... it's been a real journey to get this out. It nearly killed my own relationship. It's a story that broke my heart," she said. She admitted that sleeping has been tough. "While I knew that the book would probably cause a stir, I did not expect the crazy responses that it has received since someone broke the news on social media yesterday," she added. "While I have been touched by the love and support, I've received, I have also felt deeply affected and misunderstood by the spitting vitriol. I know we live in a world of social media, where unkindness and callousness drive the conversation, but it's a lot. I wrote this book in an attempt to try and understand a story about two people who fell down a rabbit hole of toxic love. Something kept driving me to keep on searching some kind of truth about what happened and why they were now both dead."
HER OWN EXPERIENCES
Melinda has her own experiences which made her relate to the subjects. "I have been through the kind of hell in my life as an addict and as someone who has embarked on dangerous and obsessive relationships. Their story spoke to me. It literally broke my heart, " she added. While researching and writing, she said she found it especially tragic that Anele, who had just turned 22 when she died, has no actual voice in the book. "Besides a few utterings on social media, there are no records of any of her statements or interviews in the public realm. She had yet to make her mark, so I had to rely on what other people have said about a significant character in this story," Melinda added. "In the last moments of Anele's life, as she lay on the tar after she had plummeted from the 10th story of the Pepperclub in Cape Town, she silently mouthed the words 'Please help me." As I got deeper and deeper into my writing, I felt her call grow louder and louder."
