Veteran actor and filmmaker, Jide Kosoko has shared his view on sexual harassment in Nollywood.
The respected role interpreter noted that sexual harassment isn’t only peculiar to the Nigerian movie industry.
In his words: “That is a normal situation in any industry. You tend to see people trying to fight their way up by hook or crook. However, I have not really noticed sexual harassment in the industry. Yes, I have seen artistes dating one another; but harassment is another issue. I always tell the young girls in the industry that if you gatecrash, they will harass you.
If you want to lobby yourself and sell your body to become famous without passing through the normal training, things like that will happen to you. If you are a trained actor (male or female), nobody can harass you because you would know your rights, and have some good qualities. Good producers and directors would rather go for talented individuals that can interpret roles properly. It is only ‘mad’ and unprofessional directors that would do otherwise”, he told Punch.
Speaking further, Kosoko maintained that he doesn’t agree with the notion that actors often have health crisis because they lead reckless lives.
He said, “It isn’t totally correct that actors have health issues because of the vices they indulge in. As much as I agree that there are some of our colleagues who smoke and drink, it is only a percentage in the industry. Not everybody does that. Just like in every field, there are people who do these things. Even some doctors drink and smoke; our industry is not an exception. I wouldn’t say that is the reason artistes are having health issues. Artistes have issues because they are human beings and Nigerians too. But it becomes public knowledge because they are popular. As we wake each day, several hundreds of people have died, and many have just been diagnosed with one sickness or the other.”
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