If you were in his shoes, what will you do? Kunle Afolayan, producer of newly released “The CEO” has openly appealed to pirators to leave his movie alone; stating that he is in debts of fifty million naira which he borrowed to produce the movie.
Afolayan held the Lagos grand premiere of his new movie “The CEO,” on Sunday, July 10, 2016 at the Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos and at the star-studded event, he pleaded with pirates not to bootleg his artistic creation.
He said, “I borrowed N50million from Bank of Industry to produce this film. Please do not pirate the film. I beg you o. I need to pay back the money. I think I have 13 months left. Please help o”
Afolayan had his first major publicised run-in with pirates in 2015 when some of them threatened to release his hit movie “October 1” once they got a hold of his master copy. Angered by their audacity, Kunle, went on a controversial rant on social media accusing Ibo people of being responsible for piracy in Nigeria. When it became obvious that the pirates had made good on their threats, the AMVCA award-winning thespian went on to beg his fans not to patronize the sellers so as to help him reap the fruits of his labour.
The movie, The CEO was first premiered 30,000 feet in the air aboard a Lagos to Paris flight on June 1, 2016. It features Hilda Dokubo, Kemi Lala Akindoju, Angelique Kidjo, Peter King, Wole Ojo among others and will begin showing in cinemas from July 15, 2016.