Will Smith as Dr Bennet Omalu: Ayo Shonaiya shares his thoughts

TV
Producer and music talent agent, Ayo Shonaiya
absolutely doesn't agree with what Bolanle wrote,
which was featured on MediaTakeOut and took to
his Facebook page to air his views. Find what he
wrote after the cut...


"So I just saw a post on Linda Ikeji, about an
Instagram post by a Nigerian TV personality,
saying that she "cringed and sank" into her seat
at the cinema when she was watching the film
Concussion (starring Will Smith as Nigerian
Doctor, Bennet Omalu). She also said Will Smith
showed "disregard for (not) incorporating Nigerian
mannerisms into his acting". What a load of tosh!
(And I mean that in my best British accent).
And she's not the only one 'complaining' about
Will Smith's accent in this film, I have heard some
rumblings among Nigerians since the film came
out. Are we missing the point here? This is a
$35m film made in Hollywood, with arguably one
of the Top 5 bankable actors in the world (black
or white) playing a positive role about a well
educated Nigerian doctor, who researched and
discovered the link between banging heads in
American Football and a fatal disease called
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), and
whose work has saved lives of retired NFL
players, AND all we see to complain about is the
lead actor's ACCENT?!
This Instagram rant was made by a TV
Personailty in Nigeria, where her industry, Radio
and Television, is full of fake American and British
accents, and even some far out tongue twister
accents that God knows where they got it from.
Am I the only one laughing at the irony here? This
is our problem really. We complain that American
TV and Film often depict us as fraudsters and
jokers like "Prince from Nigeria" who wants to
marry 10 wives, then when you have a big film
like this portraying one of us (Concussion is a
true story by the way), not only in a positive way,
but a good hard working man that has achieved a
lot academically and fought for his research and
findings, against the almighty America's game
and the NFL, we somehow find some shit to say
about it. Will Smith's accent?! Are you for real?!
So I got into some Twitter back and forth with
some people about this issue, and some of the
things I heard were "Will Smith is an actor, he
should have perfected the accent". So what
should we do now since he didn't perfect the
accent, should they have scrapped the film? And
someone else said "there are many actors out
there, they should have given the role to another
actor". As you know, there's this hoopla about the
Oscars, and some black actors boycotting the
Awards this year, maybe Will Smith was not
nominated for Concussion because his Igbo
accent did not come out well well in the film. Lol.
And this same girl on her Instagram had to join
the whole thing with Jada Pinkett (Will Smith's
wife) not going to the Oscars.
Another Nigerian had some "advice" for Will Smith
and his wife Jada on Twitter, that they should
have consulted proper Nigerians before Will did
the part. Like they were now exploiting Nigeria
and Nigerians. But know this. On a global stage,
Will Smith (and his wife Jada) have done a lot in
the portraying of positive Nigerians to the world.
This couple, along with Jay Z, put their money
into the production of Fela on Broadway, when no
Nigerian that was approached was willing to put
money into the stage play. But you know what?
Yes you guessed it, when Fela on Broadway
became a worldwide hit, some Nigerians rose up
to say the guy that played Fela did not master
the accent.
Now, please, I'm not calling out this TV
Personality, personally or professionally (in this
season of beef, I don't need or intend to create
one. Lol), but I have to say this, I don't care
about Will Smith's accent in this film, unlike her I
am very proud of this film, as far the subject
matter, the production, and the Hollywood weight
of the lead actor. Will Smith did a damned good
job of playing Dr Omalu, who, as it happens I
have never heard the real man speak, who knows
whether the good doctor sef speaks like Will
Smith's portrayal in real life! The man left Nigeria
in 1993, studied in London and in America, maybe
some of us still want him to sound like Mr Ibu,
meanwhile our young Radio and TV Personalities
travel to London and Dubai for 2 weeks and we
can't understand what they're saying anymore.
Anyway sha, me I don't like to shout. From time
to time I just like to test my microphone.