Comedian Kelvin Mwangi was loved by many thanks to his character Shaniqwa on KTN.
Shaniqwa was best known for the phrase 'Nitakumurdeeeeer' before snapping 'her' fingers at whoever she was talking to.
In an interview with Dr Ofweneke TV, Kelvin opened up on how Shaniqwa cost her money after potential brands refused to work with her.
“I lost so many jobs. I started cross-dressing and became very famous. My star was shining, but I wasn’t generating any income other than the salary I was getting from KTN (where Shaniqwa aired). "Kelvin added that everything would please his potential bosses but at the end of the day, no one would hire him.
"I couldn’t get any influential jobs. I remember attending ten board meetings of different brands to discuss a gig and landing none. I could see that they loved my content. My analytics were to their satisfaction, but even after all the discussions and my pitch presentation of how I would execute my deliverables, I would still not get the job. They would say they didn’t think Shaniqwa would sit well with their clientele,”
Kelvin defended himself saying he was not the first person to cross-dress.
He is however happy that people are slowly embracing cross-dressing.
" I would tell them the audience didn't know me without cross-dressing.
They love Shaniqwa, not Kelvin Mwangi, so if I have to do it, it has to be as Shaniqwa and we would come to a standstill. So I would make people laugh but remain broke.
Now things have changed, Kinuthia is doing it full-time. He attends board meetings cross-dressed and gets the jobs I couldn’t. I am happy for him. I was never lucky, Maybe I was needed to pave the way for those who would come after me like Kinuthia,”
Kevin also says he was assumed to be gay because of his cross-dressing.
“It’s not that it (cross-dressing comedy) hadn’t been done before. People like Nyengese had done it. I came and modernized it, but I’ve had to endure a lot with the Shaniqwa character. For a long time, I was called gay,”
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