Renowned filmmaker and creative industry entrepreneur, Kunle Afolayan<\/strong>, has debunked claims of a rift with fellow filmmaker Funke Akindele, saying he holds no grudge against her and considers her a sister.<\/p>\n Afolayan made the clarification during an interview with ARISE News on Sunday, following reports that suggested tension between the two Nollywood heavyweights.<\/p>\n He said, \u201cI have absolutely nothing against her. She\u2019s my sister; we grew up together. So when she called and said, \u2018I know you don\u2019t like me,\u2019 it was weird. And I\u2019m like, where is this coming from? If for any reason she feels offended, I\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Speaking on film promotion and strategy in Nigeria\u2019s movie industry, Afolayan praised Akindele\u2019s marketing style and encouraged aspiring creatives to study her career approach.<\/p>\n Afolayan said, \u201cI clearly said to them that if you want to adopt a model that I think will work for you now, then follow Funke Akindele\u2019s model. Funke started at a younger age\u2026 Look at her brand now. It\u2019s consistent growth.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n He explained that his own strategy differs due to his extensive involvement in the broader creative sector. He highlighted his responsibilities beyond filmmaking, which include running a resort, managing a cultural centre, and operating a film academy.<\/p>\n The actor said, \u201cDo you know how many things I do? I run a resort, I have a cultural center in Lagos, I have an academy that trains people, and we have partners that are not even Nigerians. Film is my core. Film gave birth to all of these other things.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n He emphasized that his remarks were never meant as a critique of Akindele or her methods.<\/p>\n He said, \u201cI didn\u2019t say she doesn\u2019t dance. I have absolutely nothing against her.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Afolayan\u2019s comments come amid ongoing conversations about the future of Nollywood, especially around sustainable film marketing and distribution models.<\/p>\n He stressed the importance of acknowledging and learning from the successes of colleagues like Funke Akindele in order to foster a thriving creative industry.<\/p>\n \n <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Renowned filmmaker and creative industry entrepreneur, Kunle Afolayan, has debunked claims of a rift with fellow filmmaker Funke Akindele, saying he holds no grudge against her and considers her a sister. Afolayan made the clarification during an interview with ARISE News on Sunday, following reports that suggested tension between the two Nollywood heavyweights. He said, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":240800,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[2099,3035],"class_list":["post-240799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-funke-akindele","tag-kunle-afolayan"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Kunle-Afolayan-1062x598-1.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240799\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}