Nollywood actress and filmmaker, Funke Akindele faced backlash after she was accused of ignoring her late junior colleague, Jumoke Aderounmu.
The story began after the news of Jumoke’s death made rounds on Instagram on Monday, 8th April. According to reports, the actress passed away on Saturday, 6th April.
Jumoke played the role of Esther in Funke Akindele’s comics series ‘Jenifa Diary’.
Following the news of Jumoke’s death, celebrities including Funke took to their Instagram pages and stories to mourn the late actress. She noted that she was sad about Jumoke’s death and disclosed that she asked Jide Awobona a colleague close to the deceased to check on her.
The drama began after Jumoke’s brother, Adeola Aderounmu accused Funke of not picking up her calls nor responding to Pascal, a colleague who tried to reach her on behalf of the deceased. He went on to praise Rita Dominic and Sotayo Gaga.
Adeola’s diss post to Funke sparked a backlash as many hurriedly tagged the mother of two as a bad person. The slander of her person continued in different forms until a troll involved her children by saying she would bury her children.
Reacting, Funke took to Instagram Live to vent over the attacks. She noted how she lost her mother, her marriage, and was blacklisted in politics and how she is trying to get her life back together.
Funke claimed that when Jumoke was alive, she reached out to Jide Awobona to ask about her and he got back to her saying Jumoke wanted people to call her for jobs.
She further stated that she saw Jumoke’s brother post that she abandoned the actress, which was untrue. She disclosed nobody told her Jumoke was sick.
Reacting to the live video, Adeola stated that Funke was showing fake love and hypocrisy, he disclosed that his sister had put a call through to Funke several times and had reached out to her through her friends but she didn’t turn up for her.
In another post, Adeola noted how the children of another colleague of Funke Akindele, who acted in her TV series ‘Jenifa Diary’, reached out to him to also spill on how the actress abandoned their mother.
The filmmaker found strong support from her colleagues, including Bimbo Akinsaya, Lege Miami, Jide Awobona, Deyemi Okanlawon, Omotunde Adebowale (also known as Adaku), Oghene Icho Peters (known as Pretty Maa), Alesh Sanni, Dayo Amusa, Tobi Makinde, and Juliana Olayode.