‘Marketers cannot legally ban Mercy Johnson from Nollywood’

Over the weekend, it was reported that a
number of Nollywood marketers had
placed a ban on Nigerian actress Mercy
Johnson-Okojie from acting in any
Nollywood movie. According to several
reports, the reason for the boycott is
because the marketers feel the actress’
acting fee is too exorbitant.
The ban will supposedly take effect from
January 2014. The actress will have the
remainder of 2013 to work as she has
already signed up for a number of movie
roles.
It is believed that Mercy Johnson currently
charges up to N2m for a movie role.
Marketers are allegedly not happy about
her fees so have sort of ganged up on her.
It should be recalled that a similar move
was made back in 2005, when the Actors’
Guild of Nigeria (AGN) placed eight actors
( Pete Edochie Genevieve Nnaji, Omotola
Jalade-Ekeinde, Nkem Owoh, Ramsey
Noah, Stella Damasus Aboderin, Chinwe
Okeke and Richard Mofe-
Damijo , popularly called the G8 ) on a one-
year ban from filming after they were said
to have been collecting huge fees from
producers due to their A-list celebrity
status.
Through the years, marketers have heavily
influenced movie-making in Nigeria as
they most times bank roll the projects.
They had always gotten to choose who
would act as the movie’s lead characters,
name the movie titles and at times alter
the story lines.
Eight years later, do marketers still have
that sort of influence?
President of the Association of Movie
Distributors Gabriel Onyiyechi Okoye
popularly called Gabosky says marketers
had better face their job which is to make
sure the movies are sold as they try to
tackle the issue of distribution.
‘They haven’t perfected their job, they are
interfering with actors. It’s none of their
business’, Gabosky tells NET.
Mercy Johnson who’s not usually
outspoken with her career also responded,
venting on Twitter, by saying ‘Wats wrong
when u keep quiet till u no wats up?no
petition,no complain just fees those who
can’t afford heineken should stick with ‘Kai
kai ”.
Gabosky adds that Mercy Johnson cannot
be blacklisted by marketers because they
do NOT have the legal authority to do so.
‘When did they become the authority?’, he
asks.
Wats wrong when u keep quiet
till u no wats up?no petition,no
complain just fees those who
can’t afford heineken should
stick with ‘Kai kai’
— Mama Purity (@realmercyj)