Nollywood Discriminate Against Yoruba Actors, They See Us As “illiterates” – Mercy Aigbe Laments
On Sunday, March 20, 2016, Nollywood actress, Mercy Aigbe Gentry, reacted to a This Day Style cover, which omitted her name as one of Nollywood best dressed. In confusion, her response led to people addressing the existing gap between Yoruba actors and English speaking movie industry. In a recent interview with Punch, the actress addressed the issue.

Mercy Aigbe spoke on the discrimination in Nollywood, Yoruba actors seen as illiterates, and Yoruba movie genres having better actors.
Read excerpts from interview below;
On reason behind discrimination against Yoruba movie practitioners;

I really don’t know why and it has been on for a very long time. However, we have started to get better recognition unlike what obtained in the industry four years ago. The gap is already being bridged and I think it is only a matter of time. I think we Yoruba actors also need to let people know that we are also a part of Nollywood and demand to be respected like our English counterparts.

On Yoruba movie genre having better actors:

Our counterparts in the English genre have always had fantastic stories and actors. I think Nollywood should be one and devoid of any form of disparity or segregation. The term Nollywood in my opinion means movies made in Nigeria irrespective of the medium. I am also featuring in a Hausa movie which will be released soon.