Some celebrities have shown their support for Toyin Abraham — who continues to face backlash on social media for taking action against her critics.
The movie star was recently accused of getting an X influencer identified as Big Ayo and his mother arrested over defamatory claims.
Big Ayo was said to have alleged that Abraham received money from President Bola Tinubu to address her husband Kolawole Ajeyemi’s baldness — a claim she vehemently denied.
The award-winning actress also clarified that she did not get Ayo’s mother arrested but merely reported a case to the cybercrime unit, not the police.
She added that she can tolerate name-callings, but will not condone lies and insults targeted at her children.
The movie star also vowed to take action against critics who “bully and defame me”.
Her remarks, however, got a lot of Nigerian X users infuriated, with some writing streaming platforms like Netflix to take down her movies for alleged “abuse of power”.
A user shared a screenshot of his letter to the streaming platform while urging others to do the same. Some users also threatened to report Abraham’s Instagram page should Big Ayo not be released from police detention.
This is the email we are ALL sending to Netflix:
Just copy and paste it on your mail.Send your emails to this 3 email addresses
nigeria.support@netflix.com
nigeria@netflix.comMost important email address is: help@netflix.com
So COPY AND PASTE THIS AS YOUR MAIL:
Toyin…
— SERAH IBRAHIM (@TheSerahIbrahim) July 10, 2024
This is the email we are ALL sending to Netflix:
Just copy and paste it on your mail.Send your emails to this 3 email addresses
nigeria.support@netflix.com
nigeria@netflix.comMost important email address is: help@netflix.com
So COPY AND PASTE THIS AS YOUR MAIL:
Toyin…
— SERAH IBRAHIM (@TheSerahIbrahim) July 10, 2024
However, some celebrities also threw their weight behind Toyin.
In an Instagram post, Saidi Balogun, the actor, questioned why the common man can get their neighbours arrested over “minor issues” but a celebrity cannot.
“You use police to arrest your neighbours for the most minor reasons; e reach celebrity turn, you say it’s bullying. Stop the emotional blackmail. Celebrities are humans, just like you,” he wrote.
“You are free to say what you like, right? Let celebrities be free to take whatever actions they want to protect their mental space. Freedom should not be selective. God bless.”
On his part, Seyi Law, the comedian, took to his X page and wrote: “Don’t tweet what you can’t defend. It is not oppression to seek clarification and justice.”
Similarly, Alesh Sanni, another actor, wondered why critics are fighting Toyin for allegedly getting the person who threatened the life of her child arrested.
“Some Nigerians are on another level of bitterness. Damn! Frustrated souls looking for who to recruit into their f******g frustrations. You would think most of them are fighting for good governance. Meanwhile it is nothing but hatred and jealousy,” he wrote.
“You all bully a woman to the extent of cursing her child and instigating death on a young innocent soul. Damn! She retaliated by arresting the culprit, now you all formed a notion to report her hardwork, Netflix movies and calling for a ban on all her movie appearances.
“Wow una deserve this government because some of you are more wicked than the people in the government because what the hell is this witchcraft for? On top of hardened bully that deserves jail term for threat of life.”
Tacha, the former BBNaija housemate, also weighed in, saying she does not understand the need to attack someone over their political choice.
“Personally, I don’t understand the constant bullying of someone for picking their candidate of choice. The same way you have picked your choice of candidate, everybody has the right to pick their choice of candidate,” she said.
“The same way you saw qualities in your candidate is the same way that other people saw them. I really don’t understand the constant, steady bullying based on the candidate she chose to support. Let’s not act naive.
“If you write a petition to the police and the person that you’ve written the petition against refuses to honour the police invitation, they will pick him up. This has nothing to do with whether Toyin Abraham is a public figure or not, or if you’re just a regular citizen.”
Toyin, a keen supporter of Tinubu, has always received intense criticism over the current administration’s policies.
The backlash heightened recently following the ongoing economic hardship in Nigeria, with several Nigerians berating some celebrities — including Abraham — for endorsing Tinubu during the 2023 presidential elections.
