How I Feel about People Calling Me Tribalistic for Using Yoruba Actors - Kunle Afolayan

One of the most prolific and most popular filmmakers working in Nigeria today is the director, actor, and producer Kunle Afolayan. Over the years, Kunle Afolayan has become a powerhouse name in the Nigerian movie industry with blockbuster productions under his belt like Anikulapo, Citation, Swallow, The Figurine, October 1, and many more.

Kunle Afolayan is a Yoruba man and very clearly loves to tell stories about things that he's familiar with. As a Yoruba man then, it should be no surprise that a lot of the tales and fables he must have heard growing up are Yoruba based, and that his growing up has in some way affected his creativity just like our childhoods influence all of us. However, in a new interview with Toyin Falola during the Toyin Falola Interview Series, Kunle Afolayan opened up about how he feels when people call him tribalistic for casting a lot of Yoruba actors and featuring them in his movies. Here is what the filmmaker had to say about how the accusation makes him feel.

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Speaking about how he feels about being called tribalistic because he likes to feature Yoruba people in his movies, Kunle Afolayan said:

KUNLE AFOLAYAN: When I started out in 2006 with Irapada, I decided to test run making a multilingual film and bringing in actors of different ethnic backgrounds. Even with that, I still was tagged a Yoruba actor for a very long time. It really doesn’t matter. I have proven my style and my ways and how I like to use film to unite the country and to also show people that film really doesn’t have a particular language. You can produce a film without dialogue and it would make sense. In this age and time, you can do a film in Ibibio and dub it in other languages or subtitles. Some people still say I am tribalistic and that I only feature Yoruba people. But if you are a talent, where you are from will not even come to people’s minds, what they will always see is what you are capable of doing

I don’t know honestly [what I will be remembered for]. It is automatic that I will be remembered for my works. All I want to do is keep my name intact, keep impacting. When I’m gone, I really would care less what anybody would say about me. I would be gone. Some people’s views have been documented about me. There will still be more to be documented. This is more important to me than what is posted on social media.

What do you think about what Kunle Afolayan had to say, and do you think Kunle Afolayan is tribalistic simply because he likes to tell majorly Yoruba stories and cast a lot of Yoruba actors in his works? Let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment either below or on my Jide Okonjo Facebook post.

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