Nigeria opposed to District 9
By Alexandra Heilbron on September 22, 2009 | 7 Comments
Nigeria’s Information Minister Dora Akunyili says the country will boycott District 9 because of the negative portrayal of Nigerians. She says movie theaters in Abuja, the nation’s capital, have been asked to stop screening the film. “We are not happy about it because it portrays Nigeria in bad light. Why do they want to denigrate Nigerians as criminals, cannibals and prostitutes who sleep with extra-terrestrial animals? We’ve had enough with the stereotypes they have branded us with … we are not going to sit back and allow people to stigmatize us. We have written to the producer and distributor of the film, Sony Entertainment, expressing our displeasure and demanded an apology. We have asked that the areas where Nigeria and Obasanjo are mentioned should be edited from the film.” District 9 was directed by South African filmmaker Neill Blomkamp, who also co-wrote it. It portrays a race of aliens stranded on earth, who are kept in camps, separated from the human population and treated poorly, drawing similarities to the recent South African apartheid.
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It’s a Movie Dude, use your time to actually benefit your country instead of whining and complaining. It’s just a movie.
Why wasn’t this filmed in America? Surely the Nigerians would treat the aliens better in real life than the Americans would. Look how America treated the natives when they first came to America, and then how they enslaved the black people when they brought them over from across the seas from their native homeland. Everyone knows this, it’s all in history and is well documented.
“expressing our displeasure and demanded an apology.”
Yeah…because you always get what you want when you ‘demand’ it….NOT!
“as criminals, cannibals and prostitutes who sleep with extra-terrestrial animals” hmmm, isnt that ALL nationalities around the world? 😛 i dont see how anyone could take offense to a movie. joshua, look at those comments based on the movie “orphan”. they took that wayyy too far. accusing the movie of making people afraid to adopt. clearly no one would take this movie seriously, if they did dont you think theyd be wondering where all these “extra-terrestrial animals” that everyone is “sleeping with” are? i want to see pictures. >.>
jon, are you aware of the atrocities going on in many parts of Africa? Every country has a bloody past.
I thnk some people take movies way too seriously. Anyone remember the South Park movie? Maybe we Canadians should have boycotted it for its negative portrayal of us Canucks….eh. I’ve seen District 9, (fantastic) and I certainly didnt leave thinking all Nigerians were sadistic cannibals. I’ve looked at most of Africa in a negative light long before District 9 came along. Not the people themselves but, the fact that thier governments constantly fight for power and exploit thier own people and if they would just stop the power struggles and massive corruption, they might actually claw themself up from third world status.
The Nigerians could always send an email asking for money