“A white woman once called me a dog”- Olu Jacobs Reveals
Follow @eventlabgh < Veteran Nigerian actor, Olu Jacobs has in a recent interview revealed that he was once a victim...
Veteran Nigerian actor, Olu Jacobs has in a recent interview revealed that he was once a victim of racism and racial profiling.
The seasoned Nigerian actor while speaking during a recent chat with Punch stated that he was once addressed as a Dog by a white woman.
Recalling the incident, the actor revealed that following his move to London in 1996, a white woman saw him and deemed it fit to call him a dog.
Speaking during the interview, he said:
“My Dad did not want me to go to England. I was his favourite child. When I said that I wanted to act, he said I should do something else and not anything that would take me away from him.
When I got to London, I had to send him a message. As the closest person to him in the family, I knew the right thing that would calm him was tobacco. My father loved tobacco. He was a piper.
So I bought him a new pipe and some tobacco and sent them to him through somebody who was travelling home. And he forgave me for disobeying him.”
Asked why he choose to study in London, he said:
“At that time, if you desired to do this job that we are doing in the arts, you had to go to either Europe or America.
France was out of the question for me because I didn’t speak French. I still don’t speak French neither do I speak German or Russian.
English was the language of communication that I knew and whatever I wanted to learn I preferred to do it in the language that I understood. And since we already had a relationship between Britain and Nigeria, it was much easier for me to go to England.”
Olu Jacobs also spoke on being lucky and how he had to deal with racism.
He said;
“Providence must have had a hand in it. I think good luck was following me everywhere I went. Back then, to become an actor in England, you must be able to have an equity card. The card was issued by the actors’ union in that country.
To get the card, you must have a job. And to get a job, you must have an agent.
I was a victim of racism all the time. You felt it in the way the people looked at you and in their attitude toward you. But you could not do anything about it. I could not take somebody to court for that.
A white woman once called me a dog. She had a vacant room for rent. But when I approached her, she asked if I didn’t see the ‘No dogs’ sign on her door.
Before I could respond, she said that a dog was better than me and then slammed the door in my face. I felt so bad that I almost decided to return to Nigeria.”
