Entertainment

I Had To Prove To Family I Wasn’t Sleeping Around As artiste — Asa

Published

4 years ago

March 27, 2022

Popular singer, Bukola Elemide, aka Asa, has said because of the perception held by many that female artistes who rise to the top of their careers must have slept around, she had to convince her family otherwise.

Speaking with CNN’s Zain Asher at the Access Bank International Women’s Day conference in Lagos, she said, “In Paris, I don’t think about gender. (Rather), I have to fight being from Nigeria. Gender is not a problem. In Nigeria, I have to fight (for my) gender.”

The multi-award-winning artiste, who recently released her fifth album titled, V also noted that her gender had a profound effect on her behaviour in the early days of her career. She said, “I was very aware of my femininity, so when I went into studios, I usually wore baggy clothing because I did not want to accentuate the fact that I was female. I did not want to bring attention to myself; I just wanted to do my job.”

According to Asa, those (fashion) choices led men to question her sexuality. “Some men would comment, ‘Are you even a woman? What’s wrong with you’?

“People think if one is a female artiste, one is sleeping around, so I had to prove that to family.”

Asa also stated that she struggled with her parents’ attitude to her upbringing, particularly her disciplinarian father. “It was a bootcamp at home. He made us eat beans for a year, and insisted on the home help putting weevils (on), sprinkling them as protein,” she said.

She also stated that she was constantly groomed to be a wife from when she was a child. She said, “One has to learn how to cook for one’s husband. One has to be sweet for one’s husband, and I was like, ‘Am I going to do all this for one person? And I don’t even know who the person is’.”

Asa also maintained that women (in the industry) still do not get equal opportunities (with their male colleagues). She added, “I want to see women selling whiskey and being ambassadors for such brands. I do enjoy an occasional whiskey, so why shouldn’t I be a brand ambassador for that? Why should it always be males? Women enjoy those things (too).

“(However), I think we can find a balance. Nobody is saying with the new wave of feminism, (women) have to be on top. I am just saying we could be equal and respect one another.”

Entertainment

Oscar-winning Actress Diane Keaton Dead At 79 – Report

Published

1 day ago

October 11, 2025

Editor

Actress Diane Keaton, known for her Oscar-winning performance in 1977’s “Annie Hall” and her role in “The Godfather” films, has died at age 79, People magazine reported Saturday.

Details were not immediately available, and Keaton’s loved ones have asked for privacy, a family spokesperson told People, which confirmed that the actress died in California.

Keaton, a style icon, was a frequent collaborator of director Woody Allen, portraying the titular character in “Annie Hall,” the charming girlfriend of Allen’s comic Alvy Singer.

The film also garnered Oscars for best picture, best director and best original screenplay, cementing Keaton’s place as one of the industry’s top actresses and an offbeat style icon as well.

The actress made her mark co-starring in eight Allen movies, from “Play in Again Sam” (1972) to “Manhattan” (1979) and “Manhattan Murder Mystery” (1993).

As the Hollywood sexual harassment scandals detonated in late 2017, cascading from producer Harvey Weinstein to heavyweight actors like Kevin Spacey, old accusations of child sex abuse against Allen by his adoptive daughter Dylan, resurfaced.

“Woody Allen is my friend and I continue to believe him,” Keaton tweeted in January 2018.

A BAFTA and Golden Globe winner, Keaton scored Oscar nominations three other times for best actress, for “Reds,” “Marvin’s Room” and “Something’s Gotta Give.”

In “The Godfather” films, she played Kay Adams, the girlfriend and eventual wife of Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone.

Late in her career, Keaton starred in two movies about ageing women: “Book Club” (2018), with its message that love has no age, and “Poms” (2019).

“Poms” is the story of Martha, a terminally ill woman who moves to a retirement community to die, but winds up forming a cheerleading squad made up of female senior citizens.

As for ageing, Keaton said in a 2019 interview with AFP that life actually got easier.

“I think so, because what have you got to lose? It’s like it’s the truth. That’s what it is. You face it, we talk about it,” she said.

Born Diane Hall in Los Angeles on January 5, 1946, Keaton was romantically involved with Allen, Pacino and Warren Beatty, but never married.

“Most people in the movies get married at some point, and then they divorce. But I’ve never even got married. I am (a) failure,” she joked in the 2019 interview.

Did she regret it? “I don’t think about it a lot, but I’m aware of the fact that I’m unusual in that regard, and maybe I did miss out on something — but then, nobody can have everything, right?”

She is survived by her two children, Dexter and Duke.
AFP

Entertainment

Why I Can’t Quit Music – Erigga

Published

2 days ago

October 10, 2025

Editor

Nigerian rapper Erhiga Agarivbie, popularly known as Erigga, has revealed that he can’t quit music, stressing that he is doing it for passion and not for financial gains.

In an interview with Hip TV, Erigga noted that every year, some of his colleagues leave the music industry due to various circumstances.

However, he said he can’t quit because music is his life.

The rapper emphasised that his passion for music supersedes the financial and social benefits.

“Every year, people leave music for real-life issues. But I can’t stop. Music is life. It’s what keeps me going. Take the business and everything out of it, it’s more of a passion. I can’t disappoint my fans,” Erigga said.

Entertainment

Tiwa Savage Reacts To Allegation Of Sabotaging Female Colleagues

Published

2 days ago

October 10, 2025

Editor

Afrobeats singer, Tiwa Savage has denied allegations of sabotaging other female artists in the music industry.

She challenged those accusing her of sabotaging her colleagues to mention their sources and come forward with evidence.

Recall that a few years ago Kenyan singer, Victoria Kimani, accused Tiwa Savage of indirectly blocking her from performing at several shows.

Reacting in a recent episode of the Offair Show, Tiwa Savage explained that she was being wrongly accused of sabotaging the chances of other female artistes to get bookings, claiming that show promoters could be lying to other artists using her name.

“If you’ve heard from anybody that I tried to block your bag, mention names. Maybe the promoters are lying and using me, maybe they don’t want to book three, four girls. So, they claim I am the one blocking others,” Savage said.