Veteran Nollywood actress and filmmaker Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde has clarified her stance on dance-driven movie promotions, stating that while she enjoys dancing, she will not participate if it feels forced or compulsory.
The screen icon made this known during a recent appearance on TVC Entertainment, a clip of which surfaced on Instagram on Tuesday.
According to Omotola, her refusal is not rooted in arrogance or disinterest, but in staying true to herself.
“I’m sorry, I would not be doing the dancing. I’m very, very sorry. It’s just not me,” she said. “I dance. I love to dance, I’m sure a lot of us love to dance.”
She explained that the growing backlash against dance-heavy movie promotions is largely due to the pressure placed on actors to participate, rather than allowing such moments to happen naturally.
“I think the problem and the reason why a lot of people are kicking back at it is because you want to dance because you feel like it, not because you have to,” the actress noted.
Omotola stressed that there is absolutely nothing wrong with cast members dancing during promotional activities, as long as it happens organically and for fun.
“There’s a difference. If you’re promoting a movie and you’re just having fun, that’s different,” she explained.
However, the award-winning actress maintained that her primary responsibility as an actor ends with delivering a strong performance, while marketing, advertising and distribution should be handled by professionals in those fields.
“When it becomes a chore, when it becomes ‘this is what you have to do to sell a movie,’ it’s not professional,” she said. “I’ve already done the project. I should talk about it, promote it, and then allow those whose job it is to distribute and advertise to do that.”
Her comments come shortly after celebrated filmmaker Kunle Afolayan expressed a similar view, revealing that he would also not dance to promote a movie. Afolayan further added that he has no interest in producing a film that grosses ₦1 billion at the box office if he ends up earning only ₦10 million as the producer.
