Nigerian movie actress and filmmaker, Toyin Abraham has spoken out about the negative effects of gossips in the Nollywood movie industry.
Abraham made this assertion in a social media post in which she also affirmed that Funke Akindele was her rival. She stated that the rivalry began in the Yoruba movie industry, and then progressed into the mainstream movie industry.
She stated in her post “The number one cause of fights in the industry then was ‘he said, she said’ before the social media era. Dear Nollywood people, let me chip this in, stop tearing the industry down with your gossip. You have caused lots of damage with he-said, she-said”
She accorded Funke Akindele the number one position in the Yoruba industry, and stated that with the gossip in between getting on the list of producers, they became “Competition and Persona Non-Grata”
Abraham asserted that she became number one in the Yoruba movie industry after Funke left, and after a while she moved on to the mainstream English movie industry, where their rivalry continued.
She is quoted as saying:
“In the English industry, Aunty Funke and I continued the rivalry sort of. It pitted our fans against each other. We are two competitive Virgo women, we love to win and sometimes in that process, we splash dirt and mud”
With the intervention of age and time pointed out by Abraham, she realized they could have healthy competition. She praises Funke for her 1 billion sales, according to her Funke Akindele has given her a new and higher goal.
In her words to Funke Akindele “Sis, let’s compliment each other even in competition at the box office, I owe you one post in December”
