Playing gay role boosted my career – Actor Iremide Adeoye

Playing gay role boosted my career – Actor Iremide Adeoye

There is no doubt that before now, only a few Nigerian actors would readily accept a gay role in a movie, perhaps because of the fear of the aftermath from society, despite it being a make-believe.

In an exclusive interview with Premium Times,  Iremide Adeoye, a 26-year-old actor and digital content creator, expressed his surprise at the overwhelming reception of his character in Wura, Lolu Adeleke.

Many would think that acting a gay role in Nigeria would ostracise him from society, but on the contrary, he said playing a ‘Lolu Adeleke’ has become a significant peak in his career.

He shared, “When the audience can relate with the character, that’s great news for me.”

Although Iremide has been featured in Nollywood movies like ‘The Order of Things and ‘Tiger Tail’, these flicks were not enough to give him the breakthrough his career has seen since the wake of playing ‘Lolu Adeleke’, a queer character in the movie, Wura.

The fashion enthusiast and actor said his role in the series and the reception have been fantastic.

He said, “People have come to resonate more with the character, way more than I expected, and that is the joy for me as an actor when the audience can relate with the surface; that’s great news for me.

“Acting as a queer character in Nollywood as Lolu Adeleke. It has been the biggest queer representation in Nollywood on that scale, and it feels great to be one of the performers of something like that. I was expecting some backlash, of course, because acting a queer character in a homophobic country, you don’t know what to expect.

“Still, you know what to expect, but so far, so good; despite the bad and negative sides I have seen, I feel like the love has overshadowed the bad side. For me, I don’t want to focus on the negativity that comes from playing that character; the love and the people that do appreciate the work that I do is what I pay my attention to.”

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