Acting as a ritualist in movies doesn’t make me one, says Kanayo O. Kanayo

Veteran Nigerian actor, Kanayo O. Kanayo, has corrected the perception people have about him with regards to his recurring roles as a ritualist in movies.

According to the barrister, he has had to deal with negative comments on social media because of his role as a ritualist in movies.

However, the Nollywood star speaking in an interview with The Punch, noted that his roles are not a representation of his real self off camera.

He also added that the negative comments no longer bother him.

Kanayo said;

“Many of our youths are not focused and they see social media as a place to get back at some people.

“The most unfortunate thing is that they abuse the privilege they have. Even people who cannot speak before one now think they have the opportunity to rubbish one. However, those things don’t affect me because if one has got to a particular stage in life, there are people one should not respond to.

“Whenever anybody posts a comment that I don’t consider to be ‘worthy’, I go to the person’s page to check who they are following and who is following them. Imagine getting to such a page and finding out that the person has only five followers but is following over 10,000 people. Many of these people are irresponsible and their stock-in-trade is to make negative comments on social media. As for me, I don’t join issues with such people.

Whether we like it or not, this is Africa where we respect seniority, especially when an elder or leader has not brought themselves to a point where they would be insulted. I guess some of these people were raised in places where they don’t know about cultural values.

“It is most unfortunate that even when one plays certain roles, some youths cannot distinguish between one and the character. Just because one acted as a criminal on TV, some persons see the actor as a criminal. Meanwhile, an actor has to be flexible. Acting as a ‘ritualist’ does not mean one is a ritualist in real life. Anyway, I see those who think that way as uneducated, uninformed, and have complex problems. We need to redefine the word, ‘youth’, in Nigeria. Being a youth does not mean one has to be irresponsible.”