Actor/Producer, Elvis Chuks, has again lashed out at Governor Rotimi Ameachi of Rivers State and the organizers of Best of Nollywood Awards (BON) over an alleged attempt to cover up their lies and paint him bad. The Nollywood practitioner who spoke exclusively to Showbiz and More, on Friday, October 31, 2014, on the controversy trailing the recently-held 7th edition of Best of Nollywood, at the Rivers State Government House, in Port Harcourt, is still embittered by the maltreatment of Nollywood stars at the event. According to him, “every entertainer works for 24 hours to be who they are, so it is wrong for you not to treat them right and some Governor climbed the stage and said Nollywood is a product of necessity and a product of poverty. Such language should not have come out at all”.
The last BON Awards generated a lot of ripples and you were at the centre of the controversy. What actually happened?
I think I’ve made my point clear and I hope that the people concerned understood perfectly what I was trying to say. You cannot bring artistes all the way from Lagos and you don’t give them even a glass of water. That’s disrespectful, not to talk of what the Governor said on stage.
Why do you think they chose to paint you bad for this observation?
They can’t deny it; what happened, because other artistes there have testified that they are particularly trying to deny it. But you can’t deny such truth. Liz Benson was there. When some journalists called her, she said the truth; Mama G also said the truth, so also all those that were there. They all said the truth. So, I’m personally not bothered because I flew myself down to Port-Harcourt in a first class seat with Iyabo Ojo. I never flew on their ticket. The least I could do was to get to a place, attend an event and not be insulted.
Was it that you took it personal?
I took into consideration that every entertainer works for 24 hours to be who they are, so it is wrong for you not to treat them right and some Governor would climb the stage and say Nollywood is a product of necessity and a product of poverty. I will never accept that because I drive a Range Rover sport of N27 million, so somebody cannot call me a product of poverty. I’m not even from a poor background. I studied Film and Television overseas. So, I took it personal. Because the Governor was saying directly or indirectly, that every entertainer is a product of necessity, a product of poverty. Such language should not have come out at all.