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Kunle Afolayan Retracts Hate Tweet, Tenders Unreserved Apology

By Editor
18 April 2015   |   7:05 am
The tweet which was sent a day after the Oba of Lagos reportedly threatened Igbos in Lagos, sparked a delirium seconds after the award winning actor hit the send button. To say that it went viral would be stating the obvious. And not a single person on his twitter handle who was of Igbo extraction spared him.
Kunle Afolayan

Kunle Afolayan

It was not particularly a good week for outstanding movie director, actor and producer Kunle Afolayan. He spent the better part of the week trying to get his friends, colleagues and Nigerians of Igbo extraction to pardon him over the tweet he sent which suggested that most movie pirates were Igbos.

The tweet which was sent a day after the Oba of Lagos reportedly threatened Igbos in Lagos, sparked a delirium seconds after the award winning actor hit the send button. To say that it went viral would be stating the obvious. And not a single person on his twitter handle who was of Igbo extraction spared him.

Even the non-Igbos took on the very humane, personable and humble actor. The rain of insults continued on other social media platforms. This time, Afolayan’s professional colleagues joined in and didn’t spare him. They called him all sorts of names and described his action in unprintable terms. But the actor who many acknowledge was a detribalized Nigerian has since retracted the comment and has also tendered an unreserved apology.

“I apologize for the comment. I am sorry I generalized. I was bitter. I shouldn’t have allowed my pains to overweigh me,” he tweeted minutes after he made the initial tweet. Kunle explained that he was bitter because he received a text from an Igbo chap at Alaba International Market in Lagos who alerted him that his big budget movie ‘October 1’ has been pirated and would soon be released.

“It was in that frustration that I sent the tweet. But I am sorry that I generalized. Piracy is not a tribal thing. I should have complained differently. But I tender and unreserved apology,” he said at a press conference he called to clarify the matter.

Popular entertainer and Former President of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) described the incident as unfortunate. “He didn’t particularly mean to hit out at any tribe. I can tell you that Kunle is totally detribalized. We should pardon the filmmaker and focus on fighting piracy,” he said.

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