Ghanaian actor Mawuli Gavor has said that criticisms directed at him on social media do not affect or influence his personal life in any way.
According to him, his focus remains on his acting profession, and the opinions of people about him do not have a bearing on his life.
“So it’s not like some things won’t affect you, I won’t lie. When you see there are times where I’ve trended all over Africa and people saying all sorts of different things. I think my time in Nigeria, though, I’ll be sitting in my corner somewhere and people tell me, Bro, you’re trending, and what the hell is happening? But what you learn is that, like I said, it’s not up to you. Of course, some things choke you small. But I’m not going to lie and say it doesn’t get to me. What I do say is it’s not going to affect my life in one way or the other.”
Mawuli Gavor
The actor further conceded that social media insults hurt him sometimes, but he does not allow them to affect his life in any shape or form.
“There’s going to be somebody sitting in Kasoa or in Lagos who is saying all sorts of things but there is no problem with that. It’s all good as long as you’re not paying my bills, as long as you’re not affecting my life in any particular way, I think you should be allowed to do that,” he noted.
“Yes, it [social media trolls] might hurt me, but it’s not really going to affect my life in any way, shape or form. So I wouldn’t say I’m not moved, but I acknowledge that it’s irrelevant to my real life. Social media is not real life. So as long as I can go back to my family and hug my daughter and kiss her, I’m fine,” he further added.
Ghanaians Not To Expect Global Aid
Mawuli Gavor called on Ghanaians not to expect global aid when the citizens are not willing to support one another.
According to him, the country can only get massive support from developed nations when the populace is readily prepared and committed to helping themselves.
The award-winning actor grieved over the fact that Nigerians seize great opportunities ignored by Ghanaians and own them. Also, he thinks Ghana gets enormous opportunities but is unable to exploit them due to the reluctance to help syndrome of its citizens.
“Ghanaians, when you have an opportunity, I beg you to support your own people. I don’t know who you’re waiting for to come and support you, but if we have an opportunity, let’s just support our own people. Whatever comes off it, we’ll accept it like that. It’s ridiculous that we keep expecting the world to come and support us when we’re not supporting ourselves,” he said.
He attributed his comments to how Nigerians, including stakeholders and other individuals, rallied their support behind Hilda Baci, the Guinness Book of Records holder when she began her cooking marathon.
The filmmaker revealed that it was an opportunity Ghanaians missed, but Nigerians upheld it and made it relevant.
“The reality is that people don’t realize that these opportunities have incredible ways to catapult not just the people but the country in an amazing way. When people were supporting Hilda Baci for cooking, it wasn’t because they liked food that much or because they liked Hilda per se, but what she was doing was embodying something that was bigger than just her…There were efforts put into it. We had a golden opportunity to do something like that, but we missed it,” he added.
He cautioned individuals who backlash others to stop the criticism if they are not ready to work well with and capitalize on the creative sector.
Nevertheless, the producer assured that he, together with his colleagues in the creative space, will continue the hard work to transform Ghana’s industry despite the government and other stakeholders’ unwillingness to support them.
