Nollywood actress Dayo Amusa has addressed the storm that followed a post she put up the same day the industry was mourning Yoruba veteran Taiwo Hassan. While fans and colleagues were still taking in Monday’s news of his passing, she shared a clip promoting her new film. Many called it tone-deaf, and she was heavily criticised online.
In a video she later posted, Amusa said the clip had been scheduled ahead of time and that she had since taken it down. Funke Akindele faced similar heat after marking her 49th birthday with polished photos and a short prayer. Users on X tore into the timing. Laide Bakare also drew anger for a celebratory video that appeared the day Hassan’s death was announced. She too apologised and pointed to scheduled posts.
Amusa has spoken before about online pile-ons. During the Oyo State kidnapping, she wrote an open letter to Nigerian youths about bullying from behind keyboards, asking what those critics had done with their own platforms while they stayed home and condemned celebrities.
She has also urged colleagues to push every film they appear in, arguing it is not only a favour to the producer but an investment in their own careers. Addressing the public, she told people to stop saying yes to everything and everyone, and not to feel guilty for choices that upset others, because the world owes no one a living.
Last year she shared a screenshot of an updated HIV test and urged others to know their status, listing why testing matters. She has also told women not to live off a partner’s income, however wealthy, and to earn their own money. In 2023 she wrote that many rush into marriage hoping it will end loneliness, set themselves up for disappointment, and that marriage is not for everyone and should not be hurried.
