Popular Nigerian rapper and actor, Folarin Falana, professionally known as Falz, has publicly denied claims of having a romantic relationship with controversial crossdresser, Bobrisky.

The rumors stem from an earlier allegation made by social commentator VeryDarkMan (VDM), who leaked what he claimed was a phone conversation between Falz and Bobrisky during the crossdresser’s time in prison. The leak sparked online speculation regarding Falz’s sexuality and alleged association with Bobrisky.

In response, Falz took legal action and filed a defamation suit against VeryDarkMan. Providing an update during an interview with Arise TV on Wednesday, Falz revealed that the defendant has yet to file a defense in the ongoing case.

Addressing the rumors directly, the award-winning artist clarified that he has no romantic ties with Bobrisky and that his only intention was to offer assistance.

Falz emphasized that the speculations were baseless and intended to tarnish his image.

“Update on the court case, very much still in court. There’s a substantive suit which myself and my dad are alleging defamation. We filed the case and ever since we filed the case, they have never entered the defense. Instead, they entered a preliminary objection saying the court doesn’t have jurisdiction to hear the case or something.

“As at the last date, I was in court. The court has thrown out that preliminary objection. Now they have to enter a defense or the court will just go on to rule on the case. So that’s the update. I can’t really say much about the subject of current litigation, so I will leave it there.

“I never had any relationship with Bobrisky prior to that phone call. He messaged me on Instagram and said, ‘I’m in this case and I want to speak to you about how you can help.’ And you know, thousands of people messaged me about similar stuff like that. This is not a special case; it’s not exceptional in any way.

“In a lot of those cases, I will give them an audience, like what is the P, how can I help? Compassionately. Little did I know. Anyways, as they say, once bitten, twice shy. At the end of the day, I’m not going to, maybe I’m not going to help anyone again in my life, but maybe I will be much more conscious,” he stated.