Luis Munana, an entrepreneur and reality TV personality, is known for his charisma and professionalism.
Netflix partnered with Urban Brew Studios and A POP Media to produce its first African original reality television series, Young, Famous & African. This landmark project became a defining moment for the continent, showcasing Africa’s vibrant talent to the world through the global platform of Netflix.
The cast of "Young, Famous & African"
The series features celebrities from five African countries, including South African actress and media personality Khanyi Mbau, who is in a relationship with a Zimbabwean businessman, and Nigerian model Annie Macaulay-Idibia and her musician husband 2Baba, dealing with issues of previous infidelity and restoration.
Season 3 Controversy
Netflix's Young, Famous, and African Season 3 premiered on January 17, 2025, bringing back the high-society drama and volatile relationships that the show is known for.
Read also: Fame, Family & Faith: Luis Munana's Story
However, tension rose this season on Young, Famous, and African, with several cast members constantly putting him in difficult circumstances. Fans have expressed concerns this season about specific scenes that cross the line, particularly regarding the treatment of Luis Munana.
On several occasions, Luis has had to fend against hostility ranging from subtle snides to explicit confrontations. Fans were particularly outraged after a heated debate in Episode 6, when allegations and personal remarks aimed at Luis seemed overly harsh.
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Fan Reactions
As the case members of Young, Famous, and African appear to target Luis on several occasions, viewers flooded social media to express their displeasure, calling out their behavior.
Here's a glimpse of what fans are saying:
- An X user posted: "Nearly spot on. They need to stop using Luis as their punching bag. They gaslight him then make him feel like he is wrong. It’s quite disgusting. #YoungFamousAfrican #YFAM #YFA"
- Another Young, Famous, and African fan wrote: "Honestly i dont like how they bullying Luis though.. no 1 deserves that and just cause he is a nice guy people should not walk all over him maybe he is right 'this people are not for him. I even cried #YoungFamousAndAfrican #msanzibigbrother gogo maweni"
- A tweet read: "I feel so bad for Luis, I think they find it so easy to bully him on this show #YoungFamousAndAfrican"
- A fan suggested: "Luis needs to leave that show, I feel bad for him. Being surrounded by toxic energy isn’t going to help his mental health, especially around these times where he’s struggling to find love from somewhere. #Youngfamousandafrican #YoungFamousAfrican"
- A netizen commented: "I feel bad for Luis/Louie because those are not people of God. Church is where sinners are supposed to be welcome SMH #YoungFamousandAfrican"
Some fans also called out specific cast members for their behavior. For example, one fan wrote, "The way Ini went off on Luis was a little too much. Like I get how she might have been triggered, but she could've corrected him in a far less aggressive manner. Especially considering the fact that she never gave details on what she's had to overcome. #YoungFamousandAfrican"
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Another Young, Famous, and African admirer shared a similar reaction: "I feel so bad for Luis, swanky and Ini were doing way to much and didn’t even want to understand him #youngfamousandafrican"
Luis Munana's Background
Munana was excommunicated from his family's religious organisation following a previous stint with reality TV on the ninth season of Big Brother Africa, where he had sex with a housemate.
Since then, Munana has been barred from speaking to his family, friends and other members of the religious organisation unless there are exceptional circumstances.
He's the dark chocolate heartthrob viewers were looking forward to seeing in the second season of Netflix's original reality series Young, Famous & African. But, as the show unfolds, some viewers are left heartbroken by the story of how "worldly" things cost Luis Munana a relationship with his family.
Munana said he had sex with a fellow contestant in the Big Brother house.
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"I come from an extremely religious background," he says in part of a conversation with co-star Andile Ncube. "Upon coming out [of the Big Brother house], I got excommunicated from the congregation.
According to the New World Encyclopedia: Ex-communication is a religious censure that deprives or suspends membership in a religious community. The word literally means out of communion or no longer in communion. In some churches, ex-communication includes the spiritual condemnation of the member or group. Other censures and sanctions sometimes follow ex-communication, including banishment, shunning and shaming, depending on the group's religion or religious community.
At the time of recording Young, Famous & African, Munana says it was seven going on eight years since his ex-communication from the church.
"We don't communicate unless someone is ill or dying," he tells News24 in an interview. "But I do know they love me, and I love them."
Without naming the religious organisation his family belongs to, Munana says it has specific rules it abides by, and if you break them, you are reprimanded and given a chance to "repent" and change your ways. He says members of the organisation are meant to "lead by example".
"If we do things like going on national TV and having sex, it's a taboo," he says. "I was given a chance to say that I could leave that life behind and, by that, anything considered worldly. But, aside from that incident on Big Brother Africa, I did other things that are considered worldly."
Munana's ventures include his own MCC (sparkling wine), Razul, founding the MTC Windhoek Fashion Week, and a modelling career, among other things.
Luis Munana
"By virtue of me being who I am, the congregation basically sees it as a taboo. So I had the choice to leave what I was doing and rejoin the organisation, which meant I could not continue doing what I feel is my calling and my livelihood, but I chose not to put those things behind me. I chose to continue to pursue them."
He says because of the ex-communication, anyone who is baptised into or has taken an oath or vow to the organisation, including family and friends, may not have contact with him.
"I'm not allowed to socialise with anybody who is part of the organisation; I'm not allowed to step into the homes or be in their presence," he says. "That also means that I cannot go to my childhood home, and I cannot go to my siblings' homes because they are still active members of the organisation."
"If they fraternise with me, then they are sinning against God, and that would not put them in a good standing with the organisation and so forth."
Despite rarely talking to his parents and broader family, Munana admits in the show that he does miss them, and there is a lot he wishes to share with them.
"I know they don't have any ill feelings towards me, and I don't have any ill feelings towards them," he says as the interview ends. "They are just part of an organisation with rules, mandates and bylaws, which I was part of, but I left.
