Tiffany Haddish appears shocked that African country has a grocery store in video tour

Tiffany Haddish has been heavily criticised after sharing her apparent surprise that a country in Africa, Zimbabwe, has grocery stores. 

The Girls Trip actress is known for documenting her travels across the globe, recently visiting Israel and previously Eritrea in East Africa, where her late father was from. 

This month, she added a new stamp to her passport with a trip to Zimbabwe and seemed to be shocked to discover it has regular supermarkets like most other countries.

In a video shared to her TikTok on Sunday, Tiffany, 44, filmed herself walking around a large grocery store in the Zimbabwe capital of Harare. 

‘Hey y’all. I’m out here in Zimbabwe, in Harare and look at the grocery store. They got a grocery store. It’s beautiful,’ she began the four-minute clip. 

Picking up some of the items in the fruit section, she went on: ‘Look at these organic strawberries. This what I love – they sell sugarcane and it is fire. They got their dates on deck…’ 

‘I just like demystifying s**t,’ she claimed. 

Moving onto another section of the supermarket, Tiffany informed her followers: ‘It don’t smell bad. I’m in the meat department.’ 

Gasping in shock, she continued to point out various other aisles, such as appliances, alcohol and even their tabloid magazines, quipping: ‘I’m probably not in any of them.’ 

Tiffany received widespread backlash for appearing to have fallen for a negative narrative about Africa and its nations. 

When TikTok user Shar asked Tiffany: ‘Did you think we ate grass?’ the comedian responded: ‘No. But the media had me thinking all of your foods are purchased in out door markets with goats and cows just hanging out waiting to be slaughtered. With all kinds of smells and flies everywhere.’ 

Another follower corrected her pronunciation of a Vaseline-like brand, to which Tiffany replied: ‘I know. See the USA media has us Americans looking dumb as hell. So I was showing that by not reading correctly. How Americans, especially Black ones, don’t take the time to read and see for ourselves.’ 

Tiffany further defended herself on X and wrote on Monday: ‘I am an American a Black one at that and Told for years that people are starving in Africa, showed pictures of babies with flies on them. Told crazy stories of how they kill each other and there is war everyday there.

‘I asked my black friends to go with me and they were scared. We got here and I have been eyes full of tears finding out the truth. The media be lying. I thought I would share cause I know people in the USA that believe Africans don’t have anything.’

Criticising the star, TikTok user @cybercitizenx wrote: ‘They think they are visiting the jungle with hunters and gatherers when they come to Africa!’ 

@thejessicatapia weighed in: ‘The media portrays Africa a certain way and a lot of people don’t take the time to fact check or research. Most people will accept the information that is provided to them as fact. So, I’m not surprised that she thought this.’ 

Agreeing that the problem is the widespread depiction of Africa, @moxie31_ wrote on X: ‘To be fair America’s media is telling us that people live in huts in random villages & don’t have access to clean water. This is why black Americans are shocked when they visit countries on the continent… it’s America’s fault smh.’ 

However, others defended Tiffany and suggested her video was intended to be educational. 

@Raraismynametoo said: ‘I don’t think she was surprised…it seems she was admiring the store smh she clearly said it was nice. Did I miss when she said omg I can’t believe Africa has a store? Comprehension is everything not everyone has it & that’s the sad part.’ 

@warbucks909 agreed: ‘I dont think she’s surprised. She is African as well, she is trying to show people that Africa has the same amenities as other developed countries do. Yes many people still believe they live in huts.’ 

Tiffany has previously spoken proudly of her African roots and attended the Oscars in 2018 wearing traditional Eritrean dress. 

She explained to Michael Strahan on the red carpet: ‘My father is from Eritrea and he passed away last year. And he said one day I would end up here and if I ever end up at the Oscars to honour my people, so I’m honouring my fellow Eritreans.’

In February this year, Tiffany was forced to defend her decision to visit Israel during the war with Hamas. 

The comedian said she wanted to see what was happening in the war-torn area for herself. 

‘I can’t believe everything that I read. I need to go see for myself. I want to talk to the actual people that’s here, the people that actually experienced the situation that happened on the 7th,’ she told TMZ.

‘The people that actually have family members that are hostages that were taken out of their own homes, that were on their way to work driving from Palestine to Israel, working here on a daily basis, and how they were taken as well. I wanted to talk to the people. I wanted to be with the people. I wanted to see with my own eyes, hear with my own ears.’ 

She added: ‘I’ve learned a lot. I’ve learned that people were taken out of their homes. I’ve learned that people were taken away from the actual event that was happening.’ 

Tiffany then added that she planned to also visit Gaza to witness the destruction that had been caused there too.

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