Nigerian Information Minister Dora Akunyili is saying she wants at least an apology from Sony Pictures for the depictions of Nigerians in the movie District 9 as cannibals, criminals and prostitutes. The movie is about alien refugees who set up home in a South African town called District Nine which is a reference to District 6 the area where South Africans were relocated during the years of apartheid. In an interview with the BBC she had this to say:
“We feel very bad about this because the film clearly denigrated Nigeria’s image by portraying us as if we are cannibals, we are criminals. The name our former president was clearly spelled out as the head of the criminal gang and our ladies shown like prostitutes sleeping with extra-terrestrial beings. I have also formally written to Sony Pictures Entertainment, the company that produced this film, demanding an unconditional apology for this unwarranted attack on Nigeria’s image…”
the.LIFE Files says “Wait….so there’s no aliens in Nigeria???”
Should Sony apologize or is it juust a movie???
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
it’s just a movie… really…
No apology needed…fix your country. The slums shown in the movie were people’s actual houses, not props.
um like the life said if people really get what s. africa is about from the movie they are just as stupid as the people who paid to see this movie cuz it sucked
well life didt say it but the wait there aren’t aliens in s.africa remark was like really people they have more issues than what this movie depicts
HA i don’t think so, in the human development index Nigeria is at the bottom of the list check it out yourself, yeah don’t apologize it is obvious the country doesn’t want to even look into it’s problems, yeah just keep stuffing ur fat face u government officials.
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/eco_hum_dev_ind-economy-human-development-index
A movie is never just a movie.
This isn’t the good old days when Africans were portrayed as brutal savages and nobody said a word about it… but rather just accepted it, thereby leaving it as the de facto view of Africans.
Banning may not be the solution, but protest at least highlights that these images are not acceptable to the nationals of a country that has specifically been pinpointed.
Hollywood has gotten away with too much negative stereotyping over the years – there’s nothing wrong with a targeted group of people standing up to say enough is enough!
First off…..as many have said …this is just a movie…
second …if you don’t like the perception your country presents …..make a damn change in your country ! I would be damned to apologize for my opinion of YOUR country . you can’t hide the truth…..
First I will like to clearly state that I am a 100% Nigerian and proud of it. Secondly, we as Africans especially Nigerians are very quick to laugh at other cultures when they are made fun of in a movie, but we are extremely sensitive when they say something about us. I have not seen District 9 yet and I plan on seeing it. If we are being portrayed as criminals in this movie, that does not go to say that all Nigerians are criminal, it is just a few people that have given the country a bad name and our leaders are not exactly immaculate themselves. if they feel like the movie hit a soft spot, then maybe we are guilty of something and we need to find a way to correct it. Sony in my opinion owes Nigeria NO apology if anything, it the few that commit all sorts of fraudulent acts that owe me and the entire country an apology. If that is the case, then India should demand an apology from the makers of Slum Dog Millionaire for the way they portrayed the slums in india.
i say APOLOGIZE!
i mean afterall, if they mde somethng lke this about AMERICA it would be considered a damn terroist attck
HELLO EVERYONE
I AM A VERY WEATLHY NIGERIAN PRINCE AND I STRONGLY OPPOSE THE WAY MY PEOPLE ARE PORTRAITED IN THIS MOVIE. IF YOU STRONGLY DISGAREE ALSO, SEND ME A SELF ADDRESSED ENVELOPE WITH 20DOLLARS AND I WILL RETURN YOU DOUBLE AFTER THE LAWSUIT GOES THROUGH.
THANK YOU
MICHAEL OBGODOYOUBORADUTUEIAJWHRBFKBDKDHKDBKAS
^^^^^LMFAO
They should say sorry cause if some European movie came out and making Americans look like bloodsucking greedy people with no morals, the whole US government would be on them and everybody would want an apology. She’s not even asking to shut the movie down and burn the tapes or anything, she just wants Sony to say sorry.
I’m Nigerian and no, the Nigerian gov. isn’t the best but the people aren’t what the movie portrayed them to be. I’ve been to Nigeria, and it is a beautiful country with beautiful people. In every nation, there are the nice beautiful places where the wealthy live and there are the slums and ghettos. IN EVERY NATION! Even America. So for people to watch the movie and think that’s how all Nigerians are, they are dumb and need to realize that yea it a movie.
Even though it’s just a movie, they had no reason to make Nigerians seem that way. SONY obviously has something against Nigeria b/c in that PlayStation commercial about it being $299 or whatever, the SONY guy was like,”You can’t believe everything you see on the internet, or else, I would be a Nigerian millionaire!” Like WTF? That was very uncalled for.
African Americans always have something against Africans, for whatever reason, so I don’t except for you to understand why Nigeria wants an apology. But SONY really needs to watch it. Cause the last thing you wanna do is mess with a Nigerian, let alone the whole damn nation of Nigeria.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
p.s. OMO NAIJA!!!!
and for you to be Nigerian and think that Sony owes Nigeria no apology-”You dey craze!”
ES first thing first, there are millions of movies that portray Americans as cannibals and no one has ever asked for an apology. so that statement u made is completely false. In addition, no one here said that they believed that Nigeria is not a beautiful country or that all Nigerians are criminals.
I find your points very interesting, u said that African-Americans always have something against Africans. Now if you can actually tell me that we Africans don’t feel the same way about them, then I will cease to have this discussion with you. Don’t we and our parents think of African-Americans as lazy people and non-appreciative? so don’t act like they are the only ones that have a problem with you and you accept them for who they are. if you did, we will not be having this discussion now.
Lastly don’t come in here spitting hot water when u know the truth about the few giving all of us a bad name. they are the ones that owe us an apology. and sony saying what they said in their add with the PS3, I will say this to you, they did not say anything out of the ordinary. it is the truth and you know it but u too blinded to admit it. One more thing calm the Fuck down with the insults, u not more Nigerian than me so stop faking it.
Also, instead of them demanding an apology from sony, the Nigerian government needs to apologize to the millions of Nigerian students that have been out of school for 4 months and counting due to strike that is caused from them asking Nigerian government to upgrade the university standard in Nigeria. And Obama gave us a warning shot, he went to Ghana our neighboring country whom we supply power to, but refused to go to Nigeria. That should tell you something.
NO APOLOGIES! WE DESERVE ALL THE INSULTS AND EVEN MORE…SINCE NIGERIA HAS CHOSEN TO BE IRRELEVANT, A BURDEN AND COMPLETELY USELESS TO THE REST OF THE WORLD.