Mary Ann Apollo, a Nollywood actress, has jumped into the already escalating social media row between the prominent actor, Mike Ezuruonye, and popular movie producer, Kunle Afolayan.
Apollo, who is known for her roles in Disguise (2003), Sacred Lies (2011) and Days of Agony (2003), came down hard on Afolayan over what she tagged misinformation of the public and aiding character assassination of Ezuruonye, who she called her friend.
Recall that the whole saga started when Afolayan shared a screenshot of an Instagram direct message he received from a fan of Mike, where the latter was accused of scamming women.
This didn’t go down well with Ezuruonye either and sent a strongly worded response to the reputable filmmaker, calling him Igbo hater. The embittered actor said he expected Afolayan to have known better.
@kunleafo
The small respect I had for you is gone,yes I wrote u that in your sick DM.
U touched the wrong guy by posting this on your twitter and Instagram stories…
Guy,U buy wrong Market!!
U now acting like u don’t know impersonators are using Actors/Musicians/politicians /celebs fake profiles and videos to Defraud people world over????
Or haven’t u seen the ones caught in my respect and even jailed for impersonating me by @officialefcc ????.
Why am I surprised ,you’ve always HATED IGBOS..Are we going to forget in the Press ur statement years ago saying
“IGBOS are the ones spoiling the movie industry..U dont like casting them.”
Well this IGBO ain’t like u cos he was born in Lagos and speaks flawless Yoruba..And loves the Yoruba people
U Tribalistic human!!!!!
Guyyyyy I don come meet u for anything for this life???…OMO HOLD YOURSELF O,before we for inside Nollywood go talk your matter outside..Rubbishhh
Kunle U ARE TOO SMALL to bring me down with this stuuuuuupidddd unethical act…smh
If u were wise ,wouldn’t u as a colleague call me ,ask questions before posting this Rubbish on your Instagram and Twitter?…
WHO DOES THAT….Obviously u…Mtcheww
DUDE,,,if u want a problem ,boyyyyyyy BRING IT ON …I’m so freaking READY!!!.
I’ve never called OUT any of my colleagues on social media but NIGGA u messed up this time ..smh
Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish
In his defence, Kunle Afolayan claimed he was misunderstood, as it was not his intention to offend anyone.
“While I did not see my innocent reaction to an indicting post by a random IG follower as capable of further hurting my friend and colleague, Mike Ezuruonye, to be labelled a tribalist in retaliation is very unfortunate,” says Afolayan.
“Honestly, I was misunderstood,” the filmmaker says while shedding more light on the matter.
My reaction, which was rather spontaneous, was to chide the IG follower who appeared to be reporting the actor to me. And I merely asked (in Yoruba) how all of that was my business. It was like saying ‘when did I become an officer of the law’. Obviously, my colleague took the context of my post wrongly, and angrily accused me of tribalism.”
I do not know what gave birth to such misrepresentation. However, while I am famous for living and promoting everything that my tradition stands for as a Yoruba man, I have maintained a mutual friendship with people of other extractions, Igbos especially. It is therefore not in the interest of both of us (Mike Ezuruonye and I) to politicise our emotion with tribal colouration. For me, this is undeserving of our other friends, and goes to offend the sensibility of genuine relationships we have each cultivated with people of other tribes.
The producer of Citation also didn’t forget to dismiss the Igbo hater garment being forced on him as he reminded the actor how he has been promoting inter-tribal relationships through his works.
The ideals are reflected in the themes and plots of my movies, some of which include; “The Figurine”, “The Bridge”, “Phone Swap”, “Omugwo”, and “Roti”.
While Afolayan claimed he has offered an olive branch on the matter and told Mike “‘I’m sorry’, since he found my post offensive’ and apologised to anyone who also may have seen things from his point of view, Apollo was not pacified.
The actress complained bitterly about the social backslash on her friend, Mike, claiming that the latter’s life in now in danger due to this and called Afolayan a known tribalist.
Take a look.
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