Oba of Benin: Do you think if Bobrisky had made such a statement about a Yoruba Oba, people would have talked?- actor Femi Branch asks

Actor, Femi Branch, has reacted to last weekend’s spat crossdresser Bobrisky had with Edo state indigenes.

Recall that Bobrisky was in the state to attend an event and he went on his Snapchat to express how happy he was to be there. In his excitement, he asked the Oba of Benin to come and marry him. This got the state indigenes angry and they came out in their numbers to condemn him for making such remarks about their revered monarch and also threatened to deal with him if he is seen at the event he came for. With the several threats received, Bobrisky was conspicuously absent from the event he was to attend. He also tendered a public apology for his comment.

In an Instagram live session, Femi Branch said the indigenes of Edo state came out to condemn Bobrisky’s comment because they rever their king. Wondering if such can happen if Bobrisky asked a Yoruba monarch to marry him, the actor said

“A lot of people meet me and say, ‘I don’t really watch Nigerian movies but I watch your own movies’. With due apologies, that is one of the dumbest things people say. Is my own movie a Togolese one? That is one of the reasons I respect Benin culture.

Look at what happened recently. Bobrisky made a joke. But, there are some institutions you don’t joke with.

Bobrisky could say he is a Yoruba guy (or babe); however ‘she’ wants to be addressed. He must have been seeing how some Yoruba Obas have been behaving in recent times. That must have made him feel he could make such a comment about the revered Oba of Benin. It was when he made that statement he realized the Oba of Benin isn’t just any king.

Some people thought the reactions were a bit too much but Benin people don’t joke with their culture. And that is because the Oba of Benin does not ‘carry himself’ anyhow.

Our culture and tradition are dying by the minute and people don’t even seem to be concerned. There was an uproar by the indigenes of Benin because they don’t joke with their king and their king also doesn’t joke with their tradition. Do you think if Bobrisky had made such a statement about a Yoruba oba, people would have talked? Let us tell ourselves the truth. Is it normal to see our kings on Instagram frolicking with ‘commoners’?”